DISCUSSION Criterium du Dauphiné Stage 1 | The big 4 putting on a show; Vingegaard's explosiveness; UAE's bad positioning and more...

The first stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné was expected to be one for the sprinters, but the outcome was far from that. A day with a few short climbs scattered in the last 90km in which we could enjoy a surprising battle between the main favourites to win the GC.

Before that, the peloton never allowed the break to get too far away, making sure the gap didn’t go beyond 3 minutes. Lidl-Trek was the team working the most, in hopes of setting a sprint for Jonathan Milan, on paper the fastest man of the race.

However, the pace imposed during the Côte de Buffon (0.6km at 8.8%) ended up breaking the race into pieces. And right after reaching the summit, Jonas Vingegaard launched a surprising attack in flat terrain that was only followed by Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel and Santiago Buitrago.

Despite not opening a big gap (never more than 10 seconds), it was eventually enough to fight for the victory in a close sprint, in which Pogacar prevailed once again, obtaining his first win at Dauphiné and securing the Maillot Jaune.

Once the stage finished, we asked some of our writers to share their thoughts and main takeaways about what happened today.

As a warm-up for the Tour de France, today's stage delivered right away. The sport’s four biggest stars filled the top four spots, setting the tone for what’s to come at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

It won’t happen every day, but expect more fireworks from Vingegaard, Pogacar, Van der Poel and Evenepoel — rivals on the bike, bound by mutual respect off it.

They're not chasing the overall win just yet. Instead, they're testing legs, throwing punches, and enjoying the ride — before debriefing with smiles the next morning. For cycling fans, it’s a gift. For the four superstars, it's still playtime — the real battle begins in July in the Tour de France.

The first stage is on paper the easiest and most suitable for sprinters out of the 8 stages, and in the end, it was Pogacar winning. This is just an appetizer of what we are going to see in the following days, expect fireworks most if not every day. If sprinters have not been able to prevail today, I cannot see how they will have any chance in the remaining seven stages, they are not any easier than today.

Jonas Vingegaard proved he wasn’t lying when he said he was in top shape and willing to go all-in. He was always in excellent position and even attacked. On top of that, it was a brave move in flat right after the final climb had ended, I don’t recall seeing him doing that.

He also showed some explosiveness that was unheard of, both in his attack and also in the sprint. He was very close to beat Pogacar and outsprinted both Van der Poel and Evenepoel, who should be faster than him in theory.

Everyone who was expected to follow him was there, with the addition of Buitrago. Evenepoel was caught off guard by Vingegaard’s move but he made an impressive recovery and closed a dangerous gap all by himself.

Pogacar was once again too alone in the peloton during certain key moments of the race, you could see him fighting for position and trying to move up the bunch with only one teammate nearby, who was…behind him for some reason. This has been a recurring problem for the team, we all remember the past two editions of the Milano san Remo.

Luckily for them, today was not an important test, but they really need to fix that ahead of the Tour de France or they are risking leaving him isolated in crucial moments, forcing him to spend more energy than what he should.

Lidl-Trek had much faith on Jonathan Milan, they worked the whole day for him, but he wasn’t able to deliver. The accumulation of short climbs was too much for him, even if he actually arrived in the bunch, he wasn’t well positioned and was nowhere near to win the sprint of the group.

I am not sure if the team will reevaluate the tactics from now on, because the next stages are even harder so a bunch sprint is very unlikely…

Van der Poel didn’t show any signs of the crash he suffered a couple of weeks ago and was fairly close to win. However, he was the one launching the sprint and burnt himself too early. He will have more opportunities in the upcoming days, I think he will win at least once.

We are going to have fun during the next week, the big four want to party. A blessing for us as spectators! But not so much for the rest of the riders there.