It was expected that the general classification would change on stage 6 of the Critérium du Dauphiné this Friday. The big fight among the favorites did take place towards Combloux, from quite far off, and Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet managed to hold and enter the “money time” with the big guns. The French rider ultimately crossed the finish line in fifteenth place, while Tadej Pogacar won solo.
Before heading into the proper mountains this weekend, a short but explosive sixth stage (126 km) was planned this Friday. With forty-five kilometres to go, the riders first had to tackle the Mont-Saxonnex climb (5.5 km at 8.6%) before heading towards the sequence of two climbs, Domancy (2.5 km at 9.3%) and Combloux (2.7 km at 7.7%), in the last ten kilometres. Mainly focused on Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet in this decisive day for the GC contenders, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team still tried to join the breakaway in what proved to be a fast start but didn’t manage to do so. Eight riders eventually took the lead, but their advantage didn’t get over the two-minute mark. After less than two hours of racing, the peloton was already at the bottom of the Mont-Saxonnex climb, and it completely exploded after a few hundred metres of climbing due to a sharp acceleration from Visma-Lease a Bike. “Guillaume was a bit far back when they started pushing,” commented Benoît Vaugrenard. “The guys were caught off guard a bit and weren’t in a good position”. “It went very fast approaching the climb and we couldn’t get back up,” Guillaume added. “I already put myself in trouble at that point and was dropped even before the bottom because it was so fast. In the end, I did a great climb, but I think I left some bullets there.”
“It’s rather reassuring”, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet
With more than 40 kilometres to go, the yellow jersey group quickly reduced to ten riders or so, with Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet doing his best to limit his losses a bit behind. Following the downhill, the French climber took advantage of a larger chasing group forming to finally bridge across to the first “peloton”, which was then made up of around 30 riders. After a valley section, the final two climbs were tackled, and Tadej Pogacar pushed up the pace straight away with his teammates. The group immediately exploded, the world champion quickly went solo, while the Groupama-FDJ leader fought his way to the summit of Combloux to finally claim fifteenth place, 2’29 behind the Slovenian. “I wasn’t feeling too bad at the start of the final climb, but I felt like I was struggling more at the end,” he said. “I wasn’t feeling as good as on the previous climb, perhaps also because of the heat. In any case, given the feelings of the last few days, it was a bit unexpected to be in the first group. So it’s rather reassuring.” “It was a high-flying stage,” added Benoît. “Guillaume rode a great stage and fought well. He’s where he belongs, and that’s very promising for the upcoming days”.Thanks to today’s performance, he climbed into the top 20 overall (17th) with two major mountain stages coming up. “Tomorrow is the toughest stage of the week in terms of elevation,” concluded Benoît. “We’ll try to keep this momentum going. The top-10 goal overall may have seemed high, but it’s not impossible.” “I prefer longer climbs to explosive ones, so this is a good stage for me on paper,” added Guillaume. The Col de la Madeleine and the Col de la Croix de Fer will be on the program before the summit finish at Valmeinier 1800.
