The Critérium du Dauphiné saw a turning of events as David Gaudu beats Wout van Aert. Gaudu overtook Aert right before the finishing line, cutting celebrations short for Aert at the category 2 sprint.
It is safe to say that Van Aert has learned haste makes waste. He lifted his arms to celebrate victory prematurely when David Gaudu dashed by him, taking the stage win home. Overall, Van Aert leads by six seconds, while Gaudu follows in second. Lafay took third place with 12 seconds and Primož Roglič along with other contenders fall in at 16 seconds.
This will be the second win at the Critérium du Dauphiné for David. Prior to this, he had won a similar sprint known as Fóia where he performed outstandingly until an unfortunate back injury and some illness took him down. This win of the Groupama cyclist cannot all be contributed to the actions of Van Aert as the cyclist bolted past Aert with such might that he could have taken on victory easily. His well-timed last effort and dedication cannot be ignored.
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The 25-year-old was overjoyed with his win, as he said:
I haven’t had a win like that since the start of the year. After all my problems in March and April, that does me a lot of good
He explained furthermore that he feels his legs are not in much better shape, as they responded quite well on the climb:
The doubts are behind me. It’s promising for what’s to come because my legs responded well on the climb
As predicted, Jumbo-Visma was ahead of everyone at the 6 km climb, with Van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard taking the stride. With 1.3 km to go, Ben O’Connor took the lead, but the charge was quickly overtaken by Roglič. After that, Vingegaard and Roglič lowered their paces to allow Aert to take the lead, who then leads from the front in the concluding kilometer.
Everything was going as planned for Jumbo-Visma until Gaudu charged at Aert and caught him off guard. Van Aert certainly had not visioned Gaudu as a challenge.
Ruben Guerreiro was fourth followed by Kevin Geniets and Nick Schultz while the rest of the group including Brandon McNulty, Jack Haig, and Roglič finished at the same time.
Also Read: Annemiek Van Vleuten Says Goodbye To Dutch Championship After 15 Years
Featured Image Via YouTube/ FloBikes
