00:00 The last man standing as he descends down on these wet roads, Rooney Harigots.
00:14 Welcome to the 75th edition of the Criterium de Dauphiné.
00:18 The traditional warm-up for the Tour de France takes the riders on a bumpy journey across
00:22 the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region with plenty of climbing and a time trial on stage four.
00:27 The man to beat? Undoubtedly Jonas Vingegaard, who is gearing up for his Tour title defence
00:32 in July.
00:33 Do you have to win this Dauphiné?
00:35 No, I don't have to, but I would like to. Of course I would like to win all my races.
00:44 That's also what I'm trying to do. But again, I don't know what all the other guys did,
00:52 so I just have to focus on myself and do my best.
00:56 Home hubs rest on the shoulders of David Godou, who impressed with second place at Paris-Nice
01:00 in March, behind Taddei Pagacar but ahead of Vingegaard.
01:03 We saw that the riders who were walking at the Dauphiné were often ahead of Vingegaard
01:07 last year. We think of Vingegaard, of course, and of Garenne Thomas when he won the Tour
01:11 and even earlier, Froum when he won the Dauphiné and won the Tour. So yes, you have to be in
01:17 good shape. Maybe not in peak form, but you have to be in good shape and continue to make
01:21 efforts for the Tour de France, which is the main objective.
01:25 Stage one is anything but straightforward and will probably prove too tough for the
01:28 handful of sprinters at this race. The Dauphiné isn't an ideal hunting ground for the fast
01:33 men.
01:34 For a sprinter it's really hard, but we're going to try and it's good preparation before
01:38 the Tour. I think the third stage is the best chance for a sprint. I think today is the
01:45 hard and also tomorrow it's the hard, but you never know and you can try.
01:49 158 kilometres around Chambon-sur-Lac with five categorised climbs. The peloton will
01:54 do three laps of the final circuit, going up the Côte de Roche de l'Aigle three times
01:58 at 1km at 7.3%. The likes of Dylan Roonerwegen and Sam Bennett will do what they can to hold
02:04 on and the weather will also be a factor with heavy rain on the menu.
02:10 Five men got into the breakaway. Dorian Godon, Rune Herregot, Fabio van den Bosche, Donovan
02:15 Grandin and Brent Van Moer, one of 11 former Dauphiné stage winners on the start list.
02:21 The gap oscillating between two and three minutes, but the peloton didn't want to give
02:25 them too much freedom.
02:28 Bora Hansgrohe working hard on behalf of Bennett with Jumbo Visma also up there for Christophe
02:33 Laporte, one of the day's favourites.
02:40 The break still working smoothly as they entered the final circuit, but there's a reason they
02:44 weren't being given much rope. Godon took victory at this year's Brabanter Peil ahead
02:48 of the Irish breakout star Ben Healey. Herregot already has three career wins, while Van Moer
02:53 took the first yellow and blue jersey with his triumph here in Iswa two years ago.
02:58 Grandin was going for the mountains points, leading the way over the first three climbs,
03:03 the man from La Réunion virtually securing the polka dot jersey.
03:10 With the gap still around three minutes, Bora Hansgrohe decided to up the tempo in the peloton
03:14 and five would soon become three at the front with the rain pouring down.
03:19 Grandin was the first to drop, followed by Van den Bosche, leaving Godon, Van Moer and
03:23 Herregot in the lead.
03:30 Riders were also starting to struggle in the main peloton.
03:34 Froenewegen saying goodbye, so no sprint for him.
03:41 Soudal Quickstep taking over and doing some serious damage with Devenants and Vansevernants.
03:46 They brought the gap down to under two minutes as they looked to drop the pure sprinters
03:50 and set things up for Alaphilippe or Baggioli.
03:59 Herregot was first to the summit as Bennett was also distanced. This short but steep climb
04:03 of Roche de l'Egge really thinning out the peloton.
04:07 By the time they hit the final lap, the leaders had just over a minute on the chasing pack,
04:11 but the constant ups and downs were starting to take their toll.
04:15 Van Moer wouldn't be winning the opener this time around.
04:20 The gap tumbling as they approached the final climb, which topped out with just 11km to
04:23 go.
04:24 And the catch appeared to be imminent, but Herregot had other ideas.
04:28 Going solo at the front and absolutely hammering his way back into town.
04:32 The chase was on and the young Belgian was holding steady at ten seconds, still leading
04:37 as they swept their way into the final kilometre.
04:41 Herregot makes it to a thousand metres. He still has a little bit of an advantage.
04:48 Through the roundabout, Van Poppel is set. He'll be allowed to sprint because Sam Bennett's
04:53 not there.
04:55 Oh, it's tantalisingly close, isn't it? Can he do it? The 24-year-old from Intermarche,
05:04 Circus Wonti is almost there now. It would be absolute heartbreak if he doesn't win this
05:10 stage.
05:11 Three hours, 42 minutes. He checks around again. He can hear now the commentators on
05:17 the finish line. He is so desperately close to winning this first stage and taking the
05:23 yellow jersey as well.
05:24 500 metres to go. Behind him, the peloton is queuing up. They're all getting set. Have
05:30 they left it a little bit too late? Herregot's around the last little turn now. The sprint
05:36 starts. He's almost there. He checks again. Can he make it? Go on, Rudy Herregot. It's
05:42 so, so tight. It's going to be close. Is he going to be swamped on the line? The peloton
05:48 are coming. Trentin is there. Laporte is there. Are they going to get him right on the finish
05:53 line?
05:55 They power their way through. Christoph Laporte. A shake of the head by Rune Herregot. Laporte
06:02 absolutely demolished all his morale on the finish line.
06:11 The honour is going to Christoph Laporte then, but spare a thought for poor old Rune Herregot,
06:15 who was agonisingly close to the biggest win of his career. The 24-year-old was caught
06:20 within metres of the line in a near miss that was reminiscent of Jack Bauer in 2014, or
06:25 even Van Moor himself a couple of years ago on the Tour de France. Meanwhile, Laporte's
06:30 sensational season continues. The winner of Gent-Wevelchem and Tour Astor Flandern picking
06:35 up his third win in just nine days of racing in 2023.
06:38 On paper, it's a good stage for me. They're good bosses, not very stiff, so it suits me
06:44 quite well. I knew that if I felt good, I had a chance today. The team too. We've
06:49 done everything for it. We've been riding all day for it, so I'm happy to reward the
06:52 whole team.
06:53 Laporte taking it from Matteo Trentin and joining the Italian on 29 career wins. Herregot's
06:59 third ahead of Axel Zinglae and Maxime Vanhilles.
07:02 Laporte the early race leader, but Enric Mas and Mikel Landa both lost a bit of time, 15
07:07 and 22 seconds respectively. Laporte also leads the points classification, although
07:14 Trentin will be wearing the green jersey in tomorrow's second stage.
07:22 Grandin is our first king of the mountains, the 22-year-old picking up one more point
07:26 than Herregot's, so he goes into the blue and white polka dot jersey.
07:35 And finally there was a measure of consolation for Herregot's as he took the white jersey
07:39 for the best young rider. He leads Zinglae, Vanhilles, Baggioli, Wright, Stannard and
07:44 Brenner, who all finished inside the top ten.
07:48 There will be more of the same tomorrow, another hilly stage with a circuit finish which should
07:55 suit the punchy sprinters. The last of the day's four climbs comes with under 10km to
08:00 go and Laporte will no doubt be looking to double up.
08:03 Do join us then and thanks very much for watching.
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