"I noticed that my legs felt good, and I counterattacked" - Jonas Vingegaard tests waters on hilltop finish at Dauphiné

Jonas Vingegaard had his first day in the yellow jersey today at the Criterium du Dauphiné, and he was alive to the action. The GC riders remained mostly conservative ahead of the mountain stages, however the race leader himself tried to break the race in the final kilometers.

"I am happy with how today's stage went. I felt perfect on the way," Vingegaard said in a post-race interview. Jumbo-Visma has had to take up the lead of the race but has not had to work today, as DSM, Uno-X and Trek mostly did the work in chase of the early breakaway. This did not prove successful, and everything looked to be heading towards a standstill in the hilltop finish to Crest-Voland. However that changed just outside the final kilometer.

"One of the competitors decided to attack on the last climb. I noticed that my legs felt good, and I counterattacked," Vingegaard explained. "Ultimately, the climb was not long and hard enough to create a serious gap. The team did a great job again today. Tiesj Benoot and Attila Valter supported me until the very end. The next two days are going to be difficult."

The attack didn't bring fruit in the end, the Dane crossed the line in the GC group safely, maintaining the 1:10 minutes of lead over Ben O'Connor who sits second in the GC ahead of the two mountain stages. "They are long and challenging mountain stages. Hopefully, I will have the legs to do great things," he concluded.