Saint-Christo-en-Jarez (France) (AFP)

Yellow and black, the two colors of the Jumbo team, are likely to be those of the Critérium du Dauphiné whose first stage returned on Wednesday, in Saint-Christo-en-Jarez, near Saint-Etienne, to the Belgian Wout Van Aert , unstoppable since the beginning of the month.

Launched by two luxury team members, his Slovenian leader Primoz Roglic and the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, Van Aert won in a hill sprint ahead of the South African Daryl Impey.

If the Jumbo team dominated the final, as expected after their recent demonstration at the Tour de l'Ain, the Colombian Egan Bernal took a short lead over Roglic. By placing third on the line, the winner of the last Tour de France pocketed 4 bonus seconds.

"I am happy to find myself in this position. I am trying to find my level of the Tour", said Bernal who refused to limit the race to a match between his team Ineos and the Jumbo: "There are other very strong teams, other very strong riders ".

Contrary to Bernal, in legs on the slope of the arrival, his British teammate Chris Froome evolved in withdrawal. The four-time winner of the Tour, who is far from having his selection for the next edition (August 29 to September 20), found himself at the back of the pack and got up 4 kilometers from the finish.

- A future green jersey -

The sprinters too, with the exception of Van Aert whose register is very wide, were left behind before the final. Like the Slovakian Peter Sagan, overwhelmed before the last 10 kilometers of a long (218.5 km) and above all exhausting route.

After the long breakaway of the Swiss Miki Schär, in the lead until the threshold of the last 20 kilometers, and the attempt of the French Rémi Cavagna, the Jumbo (Robert Gesink, Sepp Kuss, Tom Dumoulin) blocked the race. "It's a team victory," said Van Aert in an agreed but deserved statement.

In the end, the striker Van Aert did not miss it. No more than he had done at the Strade Bianche, on August 1, and especially in Milan-Sanremo, a week later.

"We passed the line for the first time, we saw what the finish was like. I told the guys that I was feeling good then the yellow and black went ahead and that gave me additional motivation" , smiles Van Aert who has everything of a future green jersey of the Tour de France when he aims for this goal.

The 25-year-old Belgian has increased his collection of stages in the Dauphiné to three after his two successes last year, including a time trial.

"I had not yet had a leader's jersey in a WorldTour stage race", noted Van Aert, without harboring any illusions about the rest of the program, which is exclusively mountainous: "I will try to help the team as best I can ".

Thursday, the second stage, 135 kilometers long, links Vienne (Isère) to the Col de Porte, in the Chartreuse massif. With, to finish, an ascent of 17.5 kilometers at 6.2% which promises a first match between the candidates for the podium of the Dauphiné, among which the young Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (21 years old and 5th Wednesday).

© 2020 AFP