Historic start! Tadej Pogacar wins stage 1 of Criterium du Dauphiné outsprinting Vingegaard, Van der Poel and Evenepoel

Stage 1 of the Criterium du Dauphiné will be one that will be very memorable after an explosive finale that saw the very best of the peloton move away off the front in the final kilometers that were not too hard. Tadej Pogacar has won the stage and has jumped into the first yellow jersey, beating Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel in a small group sprint.

Paul Oruselin and Pierry Thierry formed the day's breakaway, a modest group for a stage that would be awarding the first yellow jersey of the race besides a stage win. The duo was easy to control in the peloton and lastly the Arkéa rider was caught with around 30 kilometers to go but this was after Fred Wright launched an attack from the peloton.

The Briton was then isolated for many kilometers in an attempt to surprise, a good idea overall as he reached the final climb with 6 kilometers to go. It was a brave move that almost succeeded but on the climb Axel Laurance launched a brutal attack that split the group to pieces. Over the top Lukas Nerurkar tried to go ahead, but quickly Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel, Jonas Vingegaard and Santiago Buitrago moved off the front and were joined by Remco Evenepoel.

Lidl-Trek quickly began to work to try and bring the group back together, something possible because of the non-perfect collaboration out front. Mathieu van der Poel launched an early sprint but this potentially cost him the victory as he lacked the legs in the final kilometers and in the victory was...

Tadej Pogacar, who outsprinted Jonas Vingegaard to the finish line in what was a very thrilling finale where the peloton managed to catch the front group but couldn't get around it. Mathieu van der Poel sprinted to third on the day.