Wout van Aert doubles-up with phenomenal sprint victory on Critérium du Dauphiné stage five
The Belgian took his second win of the Dauphiné in a chaotic sprint finish
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took a sensational victory on the Critérium du Dauphiné stage five in a chaotic sprint finish.
Van Aert added the stage five win to his time trial victory just the day before, beating Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) to the line in Voiron.
A technical finish to the line and a late attack by Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) meant there was little chance for any sprint teams to really form a proper lead-out, with Van Aert jumping on the right side of the road after the final right hand turn around 200m from the line.
Alaphilippe gave it his all in the centre of the road, while Bennett, who has lost his final lead-out man chasing down Boasson Hagen and Gilbert, was forced to come from way back to try and beat the now full speed Van Aert, but to no avail.
The 24-year-old only took his first WorldTour victory on Wednesday in a perfectly ridden time trial, but has now already added a second and moves up to fifth on general classification.
Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) holds on to the race lead with all the main contenders finishing the stage safely.
How it happened
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The riders of the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné faced a long 201km stage from Boën-sur-Lignon to Voiron on day five of the race, with four category four climbs along the way.
While a sprint finish looked likely, unclassified hills and technical run-in to the finish could prove for a tricky finale.
Early on in the day, three riders - Yoann Bagot (Vital Concept - B&B Hotels), Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team) and Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis) - escaped up the road.
They could only accrue a maximum gap of just over three minutes, with Mitchelton-Scott doing the early work in the bunch in service of race leader Adam Yates.
The gap remained fairly stable as the kilometres ticked by, but it began to drop significantly heading into the final 65km of the stage.
Still, there wasn't too much urgency in the peloton, who seemed to be leaving it until late to catch the three breakaway riders.
With just 7km remaining, they still held an advantage of 30 seconds, with real hope of holding on now forming.
Ian Stannard (Team Ineos) did a huge turn despite the absence of the injured Chris Froome, but still the break held on.
Bora-Hansgrohe eventually came to the fore in the closing 4km, pulling the break back to within touching distance.
On a short drag with 2km to go things looked like they would come back together, despite De Marchi trying two late moves.
He was eventually reeled in as Edvald Boasson Hagen and Philippe Gilbert attacked, hoping to stay just ahead of the Bora led peloton in the technical run-in.
Shane Archbold (Bora-Hansgrohe) then did the lion's share of the work to bring the pair back in the final kilometre, but that meant with 500m to go Sam Bennett was left with no lead-out man, and was forced to try and jump from the wheels of the two riders just caught.
But as the bunch came around the final right hand turn towards the line, it was Wout van Aert that launched a devastating attack, holding off Julian Alaphilippe and Bennett to the line to take his second stage win.
The Critérium du Dauphiné continues on Friday with the first real mountain stage of the race; a 229km stage from Saint-Vulbas to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne.
Critérium du Dauphiné 2019, stage five: Boën-sur-Lignon to Voiron (201km)
1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma, in 5-00-34
2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quick-Step
4. Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
5. Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
6. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
7. Zdeněk Štybar (Cze) Deceuninck-Quick-Step
8. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
9. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quick-Step
10. Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
General classification after stage five
1. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 17-28-00
2. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida, at 4 seconds
3. Tejay van Garderen (USA) EF Education First, at 6s
4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 7s
5. Wout van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma, at 20s
6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 24s
7. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 25s
8. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 26s
9. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, at 30s
10. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 40s
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Richard is digital editor of Cycling Weekly. Joining the team in 2013, Richard became editor of the website in 2014 and coordinates site content and strategy, leading the news team in coverage of the world's biggest races and working with the tech editor to deliver comprehensive buying guides, reviews, and the latest product news.
An occasional racer, Richard spends most of his time preparing for long-distance touring rides these days, or getting out to the Surrey Hills on the weekend on his Specialized Tarmac SL6 (with an obligatory pub stop of course).