Christophe Laporte continues his dream season. After winning the Ghent-Wevelgem and A travers la Flandre classics in March, the Frenchman of the Jumbo-Visma signed yet another success in 2023, by winning the first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, Sunday June 4, in Chambon-sur -Lake. At the end of a 158 kilometer stage, the 30-year-old from Var got the better of what was left of the peloton in the sprint.
This success on the 75th edition of the race, Laporte owes it in large part to the work of his team. Imperial for a good part of the classics season, the Dutch team worked all day for their sprinter, and no one missed their turn when it came to contributing to the collective work. It was thus the winner of the last Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard, who gave the last pedal strokes to place Christophe Laporte as best as possible.
Still, the well-oiled plan of the yellow and black team almost faced a pitfall by the name of Rune Herregodts. The Belgian from Intermarché-Circus-Wanty was the last survivor of the morning breakaway and resisted the comeback of the peloton until the end. But he was finally picked up a few meters from the finish line and finished third in the stage. Italian Matteo Trentin (UAE) completes the podium after losing to Laporte in the sprinters’ duel.
In shape less than a month from the Tour de France
“It was really borderline, with the rain, on the descent, it took up a bit of time, while we were going fast behind. We had it in our sights, but you never really know. The whole team pulled out all the stops so that we could play for the win” commented Laporte at the finish, aware that despite the efforts to overcome the bumps of this hilly stage, Herregodts had almost played a bad trick on his team. . “On paper it was a stage for me today, with good bumps, but not too steep. I knew that if I felt good, I had a good chance. »
The favorites spent a rather uncomfortable day on roads made slippery by the many sometimes brutal showers that fell on the riders. In the end, most of them managed to avoid the pitfalls to arrive grouped in the first peloton, apart from the Spaniards Enric Mas (Movistar) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) who dropped fifteen and twenty-two seconds respectively.
For his part, Christophe Laporte will try to defend his jersey on Monday during a stage with a few percentages again, between Brassac-les-Mines and La Chaise-Dieu. If he will probably not manage to bring his yellow jersey until the end of the week ? and this is probably not his objective ? the Frenchman nevertheless shows that he is in good shape with less than a month to go. start of the Tour de France (July 1 to 23). He will play a luxury team role there for Jonas Vingegaard, but will probably also have his chance in the sprints alongside Wout van Aert. Last year, he signed the only French victory on the Grande Boucle.