Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) won the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné thanks to yet another strong, clever ride from the break of the day.
The Belgian is a breakaway expert, having won on the Stelvio at the Giro d'Italia in 2012 and on Mont Ventoux at the 2016 Tour de France. He did it again Sunday, and was rewarded with the stage victory and the first leader's yellow jersey.
This time De Gendt won alone after dropping Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale) on the final climb outside Saint-Étienne. Domont finished 45 seconds behind, holding off Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), who won the sprint for third but with the peloton, containing all the big-name overall contenders, was just behind him at 59 seconds.
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De Gendt and Domont were part of a seven-rider breakaway that included Antonio Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), Silvio Herklotz (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Delio Fernandez and Angel Madrazo (Delko Marseille). They quickly opened a six-minute lead as the peloton hesitated with its chase, making a fatal mistake.
De Gendt and Domont looked the strongest in the break and dropped their companions with two laps of the hilly 15-kilometre finishing circuit left to race. The Dimension Data and Orica-Scott teams tried to lead the chase on the rolling circuits for their respective fast finishers Edvald Boasson Hagen and Daryl Impey but they had little help and the peloton left it too late and with too much to do. Chris Froome (Team Sky), Richie Porte (BMC) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) all preferred to stay protected in the peloton, keeping their legs fresh for the rest of the weeklong stage race.
Smelling victory, De Gendt then dispatched Domont on the final climb, dived down the descent back to Saint-Étienne and enjoyed his solo win.
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