“We want to move up the GC with Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson" - Expectant Visma head to Dauphine mountains with confidence

The final weekend of the 2025 Criterium du Dauphiné starts this afternoon. With less than a minute separating the main GC favourites and three stages of mountainous parcours to come, it's still all to play for in the fight for the Maillot Jaune.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike starts Friday's stage 6 in a strong position. Jonas Vingegaard sits just 16 seconds down on race leader Remco Evenepoel, whilst secondary GC option Matteo Jorgenson enters the mountains 39 seconds off the Maillot Jaune. After having safely navigated the relative calm of stage 5, Team Visma | Lease a Bike's sports director Grischa Niermann analysed his team's position heading into the final weekend.

“It was a nervous day in the peloton, and the high temperatures certainly played a role," Niermann begins in a press release posted to the team's official website, reflecting on a stage 5 that saw Brit Jake Stewart sprint to his first ever World Tour win. "We stayed compact and close to the front all day as a team and avoided any problems. Compliments to the squad.”

As mentioned, all eyes now turn towards the mountains and an upcoming general classification battle against the likes of the aforementioned Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar among others. “We will prepare a solid plan for those stages. They are short but tough”, the sports director says. “We want to move up the general classification with Jonas and Matteo and compete for stage wins. The team is in good shape: not only in terms of positions in the GC, but also Ben Tulett and Sepp Kuss are doing well.”

With the time gaps so small and with the 2025 Tour de France very much in the mind of Vingegaard, Pogacar and Evenepoel, this weekend could not only decide the Maillot Jaune at the Dauphine, but also who has the mental advantage heading into the Tour.