Danny van Poppel finishes 6th in his Critérium du Dauphiné debut: "I’m happy with a top ten finish"

Danny van Poppel makes his first appearance at Critérium du Dauphiné. And he had the privilege to kick off the race with a shot at his own result in stage 1, as the team's designated sprinter Sam Bennett was dropped far from goal. The Dutch sprinter did a good job by hanging on to the front group and finishing 6th although he feels that he could've achieved more.

“It was really hard to predict how today's stage would play out. It was a pretty tough race and positioning in the final kilometre wasn’t easy. I may have gone a bit too early, but otherwise I would have been blocked. So ultimately I’m happy to kick off my first Dauphiné in ten years with a top ten finish," said van Poppel.

“As expected, it was a tough day, which was made even more difficult by the rain. We expected that it wouldn’t be a classic bunch sprint, but we counted on contesting the finish with Sam Bennett. In the end, however, only Jumbo-Visma and us were working towards a sprint, so the race turned out to be really hard and difficult to control. Overall, the guys rode well today! We are very happy with Danny van Poppel's sixth place and, looking at the GC, we had a solid start to this Dauphiné,“ said the team's Sports Director Bernhard Eisel.