Gee rewarded at last
June 4 th 2024 - 17:11
Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) showed that boldness finally pays off when he surged in the finale to clinch the 181.7-km 3rd stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné on Tuesday. The Canadian, crowned the most aggressive rider of the Giro in 2023, won a tense battle with Frenchman Romain Gregoire in the final stretch to raise his arms and take the yellow and blue jersey away from Magnus Cort (Uno-X). Briton Lukas Nerurkar was third.
Roglic crashes
The start was given at 12:35 to 151 riders. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) did not start. After a few unsuccessful attempts, by Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Dorian Godon (Decathlon-Ag2R) and Darren Rafferty (EF Education-Easypost) among others, the bunch tackled the first climb together, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-AG2R) scoring the first KOM point of the day. After 32 km, the breakaway of the day went for good. It included Prodhomme, Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ) and Harry Sweeny (EF Education-Easypost), who were finally given the go-ahead after Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) crashed and changed bikes (km 41).
Leading trio
The 2022 Dauphiné winner returned to the peloton bruised while the three increased their lead, which reached 2:50 in Ambert (km 54). At the intermediate sprint of Arlanc (Km 75.8), Prodhomme collected three seconds ahead of Rochas and Sweeny as the trio were leading the pack by 3:10. The hardest climb of the day was Cote de St Victor sur Arlanc (2dn cat.) at km 87.6 and it was Rochas who picked the five points up for grabs at the top. By then the trio’s lead had dwindled to 2:30 over the pack, led by polka-dot jersey holder Mathis Le Berre, who scavenged a point. In the descent, Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who had been struggling all day, called it quits.
Juul Jensen joins in
Magnus Cort’s Uno-X team-mates kept controlling the break, keeping the gap around a minute. But with 40 km to go, wary of this cat-and-mouse game, Christopher Juul Jensen (Jayco AlUla) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) surged from the peloton to try and catch the break. While the Dane joined the trio with 36 km left, the French champion failed in his attempt and was reeled in. Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla) crashed 28 km from the line but was unhurt and brought back to the front by his team-mates. In the last 20 km, Rochas was dropped by the breakaway group, leaving his three companions in the lead while his compatriot Adrien Petit quit the race.
Gee!
With 15 km to go, Ineos Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates decided to raise the tempo and the trio’s lead melted. Lidl-Trek then took over as well, Mads Pedersen leading the way, and the break’s gap went down to 20 seconds, 5 km from the finish line. The break was finally over with 2.5 km left. The stage was set for an exciting finale and Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) was the first to start the fireworks. His effort was as bit presumptuous but it set the pace for team-mate Derek Gee to go for it, wheel to wheel with Romain Gregoire. The Frenchman first appeared to have the upper hand but Gee had an extra gear left and he went on to clinch his best victory to date.
