Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) took the first WorldTour win of his career at the Critérium du Dauphiné, with an impressive double attack on the rising finish to Les Estables.
Gee attacked with 500 metres to go and then went again in sight of the line after being joined by Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ). He produced a huge effort to pass the Frenchman and win with his arms in the air.
Gee and Grégoire finished three seconds ahead of talented young British rider Lukas Nerurkar (EF Education-EasyPost) and so Gee also took the race leader’s yellow jersey from Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility).
The Dane is at three seconds, with Grégoire third at four seconds.
Despite a crash early in the stage, Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished tenth on the stage and remains best placed of the overall contenders at even seconds before Wednesday’s important 34.4km time trial.
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) is fifth at nine seconds, with everyone else at 13 seconds.
Gee has twice won the Canadian time trial championships but was stunned to win the stage. He fractured his collarbone and suffered a slight concussion at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad but has worked hard to return to form.
“I've been waiting for a win in Europe, I've come second enough times, and it was nice to finish it off,” Gee said happily.
"It's definitely a different level. It's unbelievably special to win here,” he added, explaining his winning move.
“Krists Neilands attacked with a kilometre to go and I was in good position and it just strung it out. When Chris came back, I had to take advantage of it.
“I slotted in fifth or sixth then I heard one of my teammates from behind me just yell 'Derek! Go!' as soon as he came back, and I thought I had to try it. As soon as Romain Gregoire came over, I was expecting five other people to come flying past. But I slotted onto his wheel and noticed it flattened off. It took a lot to try and sprint again but I'm glad I did.”
Gee finished second on four stages of the 2023 Giro d’Italia and was also second in the points and mountains classification. Now he has a win on his WorldTour palmares and also pulled on the yellow Critérium du Dauphiné leader’s jersey.
“You always have a little bit of impostor syndrome, especially after the Giro,” he said.
“Credit to the team, they've always believed in me but sometimes it's a little harder to believe in yourself when you have such a good race or a good three weeks last year and then you go back to the level you were in before it. You think ‘was that a fluke?’ So it's nice for the confidence to be able to back it up this year.”
“Wearing the yellow jersey in the time trial is a pretty nice bonus. That's pretty special. That's going to be quite a feeling.
How it unfolded
The sun was out for stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, as the 181.7km stage from Celles-sur-Durolle to Les Estables headed south into the hilly Haute-Loire department in south-central France. The stage includes five categorised climbs and 3000 metres of climbing.
The only non-starter was Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), the recent Giro d'Italia best young rider and fifth overall finisher. The Italian opted not to start, citing fatigue from the Corsa Rosa.
Everyone else seemed fresh and keen to race with a series of early attacks during the stage. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was forced to chase after a puncture but eventually got back onto the wheels.
After 35 km of fast racing on the early climb and long descent, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R), Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ) and Harrison Sweeny (EF Education-Easypost) got away and opened a 30-second gap. Prodhomme was only ten seconds down on race leader Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) in the GC and so his teammates took up the chase.
With 135 km to go, the apparent peace was shattered when Roglič crashed.
The Slovenian appeared to go down on his left side, with the impact leaving several holes in shorts and perhaps him in pain. He quickly got up and chased back to the peloton but it was a scare for the Bora-Hansgrohe team.
The breakaway trio led over the short but steep Côte de Saint-Victor-sur-Arlanc after 87km but their lead fell as the peloton's intentions became clear. The gap opened to 2:30 soon after but the stage was a game of cat and mouse.
The Côte de Retournac with 55km to go marked the start of a trio of climbs that took the race up to the finish at Les Estables and an altitude of 1,346 metres. Four Uno-X Mobility riders drove the chase for Magnus Cort over the top of the slopes of the Côte de Retournac and onwards to the Côte de Valogeon. The gap came down to 1:20 as the peloton was lined-out before an easing in the chase.
With 40km to go and the gap down to less than a minute, Jayco-AIUIa's Chris Juul-Jensen attacked from the peloton and surged across to the attackers. French national champion Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) also tried the same move but was stuck in no-man’s land on the hilly country roads. He eventually dropped back to the pack.
Prodhomme led over the summit of the Côte de Valogeon with 33km to go but the quartet only had a gap of 1:00.
A bridge created a pinch point in the peloton and Chris Harper (Jayco-Alula) went down hard, cutting his left hand. He was forced to chase back on with a teammate just before the speed increased for the hilly final of the stage.
With 20km to go Rochas dropped from the break as the speed rose sharply in the peloton and the riders lined out. The break and the peloton enjoyed the effects of a tailwind on the exposed country roads, making for fast racing but there was tension in the peloton.
Mads Pedersen knew he had little chance on the uphill finish and so worked for his teammates, whipping up the pace with seven kilometres to go.
Prodhomme, Sweeny and Juul-Jensen were finally swept up inside the last three kilometres as the fight for the stage victory exploded on the Côte des Establs.
Gee rode it perfectly to escape from the peloton and finally take his first WorldTour win.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
