Bicycle race- Criterium du Dauphine 2025 Stage 5 recap

Bicycle race- Criterium du Dauphine 2025 Stage 5 recap - Remco Evenepoel survives late scare as Jake Stewart sprints to glory

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Posted 2025-06-12 16:50:12

366

J. Stewart

ENGLAND

A. Laurance

FRANCE

S. Wærenskjold

NORWAY

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STAGE 5 RESULT – TOP 10

1. Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech)
2. Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers)
3. Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility)
4. Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe)
5. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)
6. Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ)
7. Emilien Jeanniere (Team TotalEnergies)
8. Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious)
9. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
10. Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)

EVENEPOEL SURVIVES LATE SCARE AS STEWART WINS STAGE 5 IN STYLE

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) held onto the yellow jersey despite a crash in the final kilometre of Stage 5 of the Criterium du Dauphine, won by Britain’s Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech).

The Belgian race leader came off his bike following a sharp U-bend ahead of the home straight – a slow-speed spill that caused Evenepoel no harm and had no bearing on his race lead given it came inside the final 5km of the stage.

In the sprint, Stewart caused a huge upset by significantly getting the better of the hot-favourite Jonathan Milan, whose Lidl-Trek team had worked hard in the final two hours to bring a breakaway of five riders to heel.

After Pierre Thierry (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and then Enzo Leijnse (Picnic PostNL) were caught either side of the fourth and final climb of the day, the remaining escapees - Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels) were swept up with just 2km remaining.

Italy’s Milan benefitted from three riders bringing him to the front of the pack ahead of the flamme rouge, but Stewart made the most of a tailwind to launch early with 300m to go – catching the Italian Stage 2 winner off guard to secure the first World Tour win of his career in Macon.

Stewart’s win marked a successful turnaround for his Israel-Premier Tech team, whose main sprinter, the German veteran Pascal Ackermann, was forced to abandon earlier in the stage after aggravating an elbow injury in a fall with around 50km remaining of the sweltering 186km stage through the vineyards of Burgundy.

As Milan slumped to fifth place, Stewart soared to the fourth and biggest win of his career, ahead of France’s Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers), Norway’s Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) and New Zealander Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

While Evenepoel retained his four-second lead over Germany’s Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull) ahead of three days in the mountains, his Soudal Quick-Step team suffered a blow with the withdrawal of Belgium’s Louis Vervaeke, who sustained a broken collarbone in a crash.

Along with Spain’s Mikel Landa, Vervaeke is now a major doubt for Soudal’s Tour de France team – a big blow to Evenepoel’s chances of competing for the maillot jaune in July.

Following his success in Wednesday’s time trial, the double Olympic champion Evenepoel will start the first of back-to-back summit finishes with a 16-second cushion over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 38 seconds over triple Tour champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

NO BIG CHANGES IN THE GC

Despite that crash, Remco Evenepoel stays in yellow with a four-second lead over Florian Lipowitz. But splits in the pack sees Ivan Romeo drop three places to sixth, which means Mathieu van der Poel +14", Jonas Vingegaard +16" and Eddie Dunbar +30" all move up a place in the top five. The withdrawal of Harold Tejada today means Tadej Pogacar is now seventh at 38 seconds ahead of back-to-back summit finishes and Sunday’s final schlep up to the Plateau de Mont Cenis, over 2,000m high.

STEWART: I KNEW I NEEDED TO KICK BEFORE MILAN

"That one feels good. It’s such a shame with [Pascal] Ackermann today – he crashed again and it was handed over to me for the final. I’m gutted he didn’t get to contest the finish but the boys backed me and they did an awesome job. Just so happy that I could finish it off for them.

"I’ve been getting better and better this season. I took a win at Dunkerque, which was my first of the season and first for a couple of years. Then I was so close in the first stage here. So, to get redemption today – which is the last opportunity for us – is so good.

"I was following Milan for the last three kilometres then I managed to pick up my team-mate G [Guillaume Boivin] heading into the final kilometre. I jumped off Milan’s wheel and into his wheel and he moved me into a really good position. Lidl-Trek then came up the inside and it became a bit boxy. But I managed to find my way through on the big U-bend, picked up Van der Poel’s wheel, and from there I just knew I needed to kick before Milan and get a bit of a rush on him. I managed to kick at 300m before he went and held it to the line."

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