The 2025 Criterium du Dauphine continued Tuesday with stage 3 – a 207.2-kilometer stage on a route from Brioude to Charantonnay, southeast of Lyon. In a similar manner as yesterday, the cyclists would again be exposed to rolling hills terrain and the route would feature five categorized climbs, though four of them would be minor Category 3 and 4 hills. The Category 2 climb Cote de la Barbate would be contested shortly after the stage start and could possibly be used as launchpad for a long breakaway effort from riders such as Romain Bardet, who was racing close to his home.

Most of the general classification favorites in the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine peloton were using the race as preparation for this year’s Tour de France in July. Riders such as Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had already proven their worth in the finale of yesterday’s stage 1.

Today’s stage 3 of Criterium du Dauphine was the final opportunity for the pure sprinters to shine in stage finishes. A mass sprint stage finale was, therefore, anticipated and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) could possibly repeat his win from yesterday, if not beaten by competing sprinters including Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Stage 3 started in Brioude and Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar Team) attacked with Maxim van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) shortly after the stage start. Guerreiro was the first rider to reach the summit of the category 3 climb with 195 kilometers of the stage remaining and the duo got reeled in by the peloton. The weather conditions were sunny and the temperatures between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius, so there would be plenty of need for hydration during the stage.

Frenchman Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) attacked solo shortly after Guerreiro and van Gils had been caught. Mathieu van der Poel also tried his luck in front, while competing sprinter Jonathan Milan found it difficult to hang on to the main peloton on the category 2 Cote de la Barbate, causing his Lidl-Trek teammates to fall back to offer their aid and support on the climb and likely in a chase effort to follow. 

Maxim van Gils attacked again and joined van der Poel in front, but they were reeled in by the chasing peloton as the race approached the summit of the Category 2 climb. Eager efforts were still being made to establish a viable breakaway group on the climb.

Louis Barre (Intermarche-Wanty) was the first rider to reach the summit of Cote de la Barbate. He was followed by Emanuel Buchmann (Cofidis Team) and Max Poole (Team Picnic-PostNL).

With 170 kilometers of the stage remaining a larger breakaway group had formed and managed to fight its way to a lead of approximately thirty seconds over the main peloton, which was spearheaded by UAE Team Emirates. 

The strong front group featured Floriaan Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Axel Laurance (Ineos-Grenadiers), Michael Leonard (Ineos-Grenadiers), Harold Tejada, Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Ivan Romeo (Movistar), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ), Krists Neilands (PremierTech), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-Alula), Louis Barre (Intermarche-Wanty), and Anthony Turgis (Team TotalEnergies).

The riders in the breakaway group cooperated well and had increased their time advantage to more than two minutes with 144 kilometers remaining.

The thirteen frontmen had a lead of almost two minutes when ninety kilometers of stage 3 of Criterium du Dauphine remained.

The riders reached the Col du Tracol, which was a minor category 4 bump with eighty kilometers left.

Things remained fairly status-quo in the following kilometers. When the riders were 42 kilometers from the finish line in Charantonnay, the thirteen riders in the front group had an advantage of 01:46 minutes over the main peloton, which was spearheaded by Soudal-QuickStep.

Thirty kilometers remained of stage 3 and the riders were approaching the Cote du Chateau Jaune. The Category 3 climb would be the final categorized climb of the stage and some riders in the breakaway would possibly use the climb as a launchpad for attacks as it featured incline percentages of thirteen percent. 

Several teams were contributing to the chase effort in the front part of the main peloton. UAE Team Emirates, Visma-Lease a Bike, EF Education-EasyPost, and Ineos-Grenadiers were present.

Julien Bernard attacked on the Cote du Chateau Jaune and Harold Tejada tried to follow. Florian Lipowitz also managed to join the front action as did Andreas Leknessund a short while later. Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates riders were leading the main peloton up the climb with Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel clearly visible behind them.

While Harold Tejada attacked from the front group, Krists Neilands and Anthony Turgis were caught by the main peloton. Lipowitz, Bernard, Leknessund and other riders were fighting hard to close the gap with twelve kilometers of the stage remaining.

Lipowitz, Laurance, Bernard, Tejada, Romero, van der Poel, Leknessund, Rolland, Dunbar, and Barre regrouped and pressed on towards the finish line. The ten men had a lead of 01:20 minutes over the Visma-spearheaded main peloton.

Florian Lipowitz launched a solo attack with seven kilometers left. The German rider had spent a lot of energy on closing down attacks from other riders and now got caught himself. 

Ivan Romeo then tried his luck and opened a significant gap to the chasers. Axel Laurance launched a counterattack from the chase group but got reeled in by Tejada and Bernard. Romeo was now eighteen seconds ahead of the chase group.

Ivan Romeo pressed on solo and entered the final kilometers with a large gap. The Spanish Movistar rider crossed the finish line as winner of stage 3 of Criterium du Dauphine. What a significant feat from 21-year-old Romeo. Harold Tejada finished second, while Louis Barre completed the stage podium. Florian Lipowitz finished fourth, while Mathieu van der Poel completed the stage top 5.

“I can’t believe I have won the stage. It was one of the toughest days of my life and the action in the breakaway was very tough,” stage winner Ivan Romeo told Roadcycling.com before being celebrated on the podium.

“I have good instincts, so I thought if I attacked maybe they wouldn’t catch me. My time trial skills then helped me in my solo attacking effort. It is the best day of the year, and I have yet to realize what I have achieved. Wearing the yellow jersey will be amazing,” Romeo added.

Ivan Romeo (Team Movistar) is the new leader of the general classification. Romeo leads the race in 14:09:01 and is seventeen seconds ahead of Louis Barre (Intermarche-Wanty), while Harold Tejada is third, Florian Lipowitz fourth, while Mathieu van der Poel is fifth in the GC, 29 seconds behind Romeo. Tadej Pogacar is ninth, Jonas Vingegaard is eleventh, while Remco Evenepoel is thirteenth, 01:17 minutes behind the GC leader.

Wednesday’s stage 4 of Criterium du Dauphine will be a 17.4-kilometer individual time trial on a route from Charmes-sur-Rhone to Saint-Peray. The stage features a 1.8-kilometer climb mid-stage, which has a gradient of 8.5 percent. Look for the general classification favorites to shine as the riders compete on roads near the Rhone River.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine.