Critérium du Dauphiné: Christophe Laporte wins his second stage in three days and takes the yellow jersey

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP 18:46 pm, June 06, 2023

As the Tour de France approaches, Christophe Laporte is in the form of his life by winning, yellow jersey on his back, his second stage in three days in the Critérium du Dauphiné on Tuesday. On the eve of a decisive time trial for the general classification, the Frenchman of the Jumbo-Visma team won the sprint at Le Coteau (Loire) where he beat two pure specialists, the Irishman Sam Bennett and the Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen.

"It's a little unexpected that one," he reacted. "I've always said I'm fast, but not fast enough to beat those riders. Things made it smile on me today. Groenewegen was a little stuck on the right, Bennett a little bit at the end of the race, it allowed me to pass on the left, it's a pleasure."

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Third French victory

This is the third French victory in three stages on this 75th edition of the Dauphiné after that of Julian Alaphilippe the day before. In the general classification, Laporte, who pocketed three seconds in the intermediate sprint, is now 11 seconds ahead of Alaphilippe, before a time of 31.1 km between Cours and Belmont-de-la-Loire that should reshuffle the cards in the general.

"I don't think I'll keep the yellow jersey tomorrow, I like short times, but over 30 kilometers it's going to be complicated," Laporte said. But who knows? At 30 years old, the discreet Varois confirmed on Tuesday how much he has taken a new dimension since his arrival in the Jumbo-Visma team with hyper-professional operation. Last season, he had already made his mark by being the only Frenchman to win the Tour de France, before becoming vice-world champion in Australia. This year, he followed up with victories in two great classics, Ghent-Wevelgem and Through Flanders, before splashing the Dauphiné with all his class.

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"Everyone loves it"

"Christophe is a great rider, very strong, we all know that. And he's a really good guy. Everyone on the team loves it. He deserves everything that happens to him," commented his leader Jonas Vingegaard, who became a luxury teammate on the first two stages. But on Tuesday, Laporte managed on his own to win at the end of a generally quiet day. However, the stage was marked by a demonstration that briefly slowed down the riders and a collective fall in which Alaphilippe was involved who was able to get up quickly after a dip in the grass.

It was probably the last opportunity for the sprinters to shine, before the high mountain stages of the weekend and the rugged time on Wednesday where the favorites will explain themselves for the first time. "It will be more for the strong men of the general classification than for the pure specialists, it will not be necessary to be in a bad day," decrypts Benjamin Thomas, double France champion of the time trial 2019 and 2021, who sees Jonas Vingegaard mark his territory there.

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"I'm going to do it thoroughly"

In fact, the Dane thinks that the course can "suit him given its difficulty". "I'm going to do it thoroughly and we'll see what happens," said the Jumbo-Visma leader, who came to seek benchmarks in the Dauphiné for the Tour de France where he will defend his crown in July. "Jonas won the last time he ran, on the Gran Camino (in February), the opposition will be more raised here but the course seems cut for him," said his sporting director Grischa Niermann.

For riders like David Gaudu, who have more of a pure climbing profile, it will also be an important test and we should see more clearly, before the big explanation in the Alps this weekend.