Megeve (France) (AFP)

Colombian surprise at the Critérium du Dauphiné: Dani Martinez, 24, beat Frenchman Thibaut Pinot to win Sunday in Megève the alpine event marked by a massacre of the favorites.

Pointed 12 seconds behind Pinot at the start of the 5th stage, Martinez gained the upper hand in the last 25 kilometers of the final stage won by the American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo). In the final standings, the rider of the American team Education First pushed the Frenchman to 29 seconds and took over from the Danish Jakob Fuglsang, absent this year.

Pinot, the substitute leader after the retirement of Slovenian Primoz Roglic on Sunday morning following his crash in the previous stage, was overwhelmed by attacks from several direct opponents (Pogacar, Lopez, Martinez). Failing to find relays, he appeared tired, distracted to the point of throwing away his can.

In a second step, the Frenchman refocused to start a long chase. He found help from several of his compatriots, including Julian Alaphilippe and Warren Barguil. But, without being able to close the gap on Martinez in the final climb to the Megève altiport (9 km at 4.6%).

Martinez, who took over from the Danish Jakob Fuglsang, absent this year, is the third Colombian to win the Dauphiné. Twenty-nine years after legend Lucho Herrera's second success. He imitated the American Andrew Talansky, who ran in the Garmin team (now Education First), author in 2014 of a similar reversal of the situation on the last day of the Dauphiné.

- Ineos broken down -

"A Colombian can hide another", smiled the director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme. "We were waiting for Egan Bernal (retirement on Saturday morning) or Nairo Quintana, here is Daniel Martinez", double Colombian champion in the time trial but also winner last year of the Paris-Nice stage judged at the Col du Turini and last February of a mountainous stage of the Tour of Colombia.

"We really do not know what to expect for the Tour", noted Christian Prudhomme who has the paradox of the final of the event: "Who would have said two days ago that victory would escape the two armadas that are Jumbo and Ineos or to Thibaut Pinot? "

If Jumbo justified his position (three stages out of five with Van Aert, Roglic, Kuss), Ineos appeared in difficulty, beyond the withdrawal of Bernal, the winner of the 2019 Tour, as a precaution. His two other headliners, the Welshman Geraint Thomas and especially the Briton Chris Froome, finished very far from the first, more than half an hour away, and the powerful British group was especially won by the young Russian Pavel Sivakov, 23 years old and 4th on the stage despite a fall in a descent.

For many of the Tour podium contenders, it is definitely time for questions. Like the Dutch Steven Kruijswijk and the German Emanuel Buchmann, respectively third and fourth last year but injured on Saturday and uncertain for August 29 at the start of Nice. And also from Quintana who quit because of "a lot of pain" in his injured knee last month in Colombia.

© 2020 AFP