Thomas De Gendt started his Criterium du Dauphine campaign strongly as he won the opening stage, which started and finished in Saint-Etienne, France, today.
The Belgian made his attack with roughly 8km to go after being a part of the breakaway group that formed roughly 30km into the 170km route.
Axel Domont, who led most of the race with De Gendt, followed in second.
The pair dropped the rest of the bunch with two laps of the finishing circuit still to race.
De Gendt then out-paced Domont on the final climb outside Saint-Étienne and sprinted home to claim victory.
Diego Ulissi followed almost a minute later to claim the final podium spot.
In addition to the yellow jersey, De Gendt also won the green points jersey and the red and white climber’s polka-dot jersey.
“I felt good all day and the start was really hard, so I knew I had a good chance to be in the break,” said De Gendt.
“We were seven good guys and so at one point we had six minutes and on this finishing circuit, you can’t really chase because we can go as fast as the peloton.
“It’s great to finally win a stage at the Dauphine. I’ve tried a few times over the years and now I’ve finally got one.”
Stage one results
| Rider | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Thomas De Gendt - Lotto Soudal | 4:17:04 |
| 2. | Axel Domont - AG2R La Mondiale | +44" |
| 3. | Diego Ulissi - Team UAE Emirates | +57" |
| 4. | Pierre Roger Latour - AG2R La Mondiale | " |
| 5. | Emanuel Buchmann - Bora-Hansgrohe | " |
| 6. | Sonny Colbrelli - Bahrain-Merida | +59" |
| 7. | Julien Simon - Cofidis, Solutions Credits | " |
| 8. | Alejandro Valverde - Movistar Team | " |
| 9. | Ben Swift - Team UAE Emirates | " |
| 10. | Michael Valgren Andersen - Astana Pro Team | " |
General classification
| Rider | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Thomas De Gendt - Lotto Soudal | 4:16:54 |
| 2. | Axel Domont - AG2R La Mondiale | +48" |
| 3. | Diego Ulissi - Team UAE Emirates | +1:03' |
| 4. | Pierre Roger Latour - AG2R La Mondiale | +1:07' |
| 5. | Emanuel Buchmann - Bora-Hansgrohe | " |
| 6. | Sonny Colbrelli - Bahrain-Merida | +1:09' |
| 7. | Julien Simon - Cofidis, Solutions Credits | " |
| 8. | Alejandro Valverde - Movistar Team | " |
| 9. | Ben Swift - Team UAE Emirates | " |
| 10. | Michael Valgren Andersen - Astana Pro Team | " |
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