The 2025 Criterium du Dauphine continued Thursday with stage 5 – a 183-kilometer stage on a route from Saint-Priest to Macon, known for its delicious floral white wines. The second half of the stage would invite the cyclists to a battle on three Category 3 climbs and one Category 4 climb.

Following his grand performance in yesterday’s stage 4 time trial, Remco Evenepoel was leading the Criterium du Dauphine general classification ahead of Jonas Vingegaard, who also impressed in yesterday’s individual time trial. Matteo Jorgenson was third, Tadej Pogacar fourth, and Florian Lipowitz fifth in the general classification.

Stage 5 got off to a fast start in Saint-Priest in sunny and hot weather conditions with temperatures around 31 degrees Celsius, which called for significant hydration during the stage. Pierre Thierry (Arkea B & B Hotels) and Enzo Leijnse (Team Picnic-PostNL) launched the first successful breakaway attempt and engaged in the long breakaway effort of the stage. Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon-AG2R) later bridged to the front duo and the trio joined forces.

The breakaway trio had built a lead of two minutes when 125 kilometers remained. The main peloton was being spearheaded by riders from Lidl-Trek and PremierTech, who were likely protecting the interests of their sprinters in the stage.

With the front trip further up the road, additional attacking efforts were initiated from the front part of the main peloton. Thibault Guernalec (Arkea B & B Hotels) attacked with fellow Frenchman Benjamin Thomas and the duo made the leap to the front trio, where the five riders joined forces and pressed on with an advantage of 01:30 minutes.

Perhaps inspired by the success of previous attacks during the stage, Tobias Foss (Ineos-Grenadiers), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), and Matteo Vercher (Team TotalEnergies) broke away from the main peloton, hoping to join the front quintet further up the road. The trio, however, found it difficult to make the leap and was struggling twelve seconds ahead of the main peloton with 70 kilometers left, while the front group had an advantage of 01:17 minutes. Two of the four categorized climbs of the hilly second half of the stage had been conquered at this point.

Foss, Burgaudeau, and Vercher were caught by the Lidl-Trek-led main peloton with 66 kilometers left of stage 5. Other riders immediately tried their luck by launching counterattacks, while previous breakaway hopefuls decided to try again.

Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Gregor Muhlberger (Movistar), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), and Tobias Foss joined the counterattack. Meanwhile, riders, including Florian Lipowitz, had been dropped from the rear end of the peloton on the Category 3 Col de Boubon climb, while Ineos-Grenadiers riders were setting a fast speed in the front end.

All intermediate attacking attempts got neutralized and the front quintet was the only breakaway group when 45 kilometers remained. Riders from Lidl-Trek and Soudal-QuickStep were leading the main peloton 01:30 minutes behind the front group. The Lidl-Trek team was hoping for a mass sprint finish in which the team’s sprinter ace Jonathan Milan could prove his worth again.

The lead of the front quintet had been reduced to one minute with thirty kilometers remaining. At this point the riders were climbing Cote des Quatre Vents, which was the final categorized climb. The sprinters were struggling to keep up with the other riders in the main peloton, but motivation was high, as today’s stage would be their final chance of success in this year’s Criterium du Dauphine before the mountains.

Enzo Leijnse fell back to the main peloton and the advantage of the remaining front quartet was down to forty seconds with twenty kilometers left to conquer before the finish line would be reached. 

With thirteen kilometers left, the advantage was down to twenty seconds and the teams in the main peloton were starting to prepare their sprinters for a sprint finish to the stage.

Jordan Labrosse, Benjamin Thomas, and Thibault Guernalec remained in front when seven kilometers remained, but alas with a lead of just fifteen seconds. The advantage was ten seconds at the five-kilometer point. The sprinter teams were now in a hurry to catch the breakaway riders before the finish line.

Seven seconds separated the front trio from the peloton with 2.5-kilometers left. The trio got reeled in two kilometers from the finish line and the sprinter lead-out trains initiated their hard work.

A crash occurred in the finish phase and Remco Evenepoel was involved, but yesterday’s stage winner got back on his bike.

Jonathan Milan initiated his sprint, but Jake Stewart proved the fastest man on the day on his new Factor bike. The PremierTech rider from Great Britain beat Axel Laurance (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Soren Waerenskjold of Team Uno-X Mobility. Laurence Pithie finished fourth for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, while Jonathan Milan finished fifth for Lidl-Trek. 

Remco Evenepoel is the new leader of the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine. Florian Lipowitz is second in the general classification ahead of Mathieu van der Poel, Jonas Vingegaard, and Eddie Dunbar. Ivan Romeo is sixth, while Tadej Pogacar is seventh, Matteo Jorgenson eighth, and Fred Wright ninth.

Friday’s stage 6 of Criterium du Dauphine will invite the riders in the race to an exciting mountain battle on a 126.7-kilometer route from Valserhone to Combloux. The stage will culminate with the category 2 climb to the finish line in Combloux and the riders will have to contest one Category 1, one Category 2, one Category 3, and one Category 4 climb beforehand. Look for general classification favorites such as Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Carlos Rodriguez, and Tadej Pogacar to prove their worth and for breakaway optimists to try to trick them.

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