The 2025 Criterium du Dauphine started Sunday with stage 1 – a 195.8-kilometer stage in rolling hills terrain on a route from Domerat to Montlucon, which featured seven category four climbs in the second half of the stage. A prelude race to the Tour de France, the Criterium du Dauphine attracts significant and noteworthy cyclists, who are expected to dominate the roads of France come the Tour de France in July. 

The line-up for Criterium du Dauphine 2025 included Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Eric Mas (Movistar), Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos-Grenadiers), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). 

Stage 1 started in Domerat, near Montlucon, in the Allier department of central France. The weather conditions were partly cloudy, with moderate winds (19 km/h, gusts 35 km/h) and temperatures around seventeen degrees Celsius. 

Frenchmen Paul Ourselin (Cofidis Team) and Pierre Thierry (Arkea B & B Hotels) were eager to prove their worth on home soil and launched an attack soon after the stage start. 

The breakaway duo had formed a lead of almost four minutes after twelve kilometers of racing. The Lidl-Trek and PremierTech teams moved to the front of the main peloton to control the advantage of the front duo.

The breakaway duo was still in front after sixty kilometers of racing and maintained a time advantage of approximately three minutes with 130 kilometers left of stage 1.

The riders in Criterium du Dauphine entered the second half of the stage, which featured the seven categorized climbs – some of them on a finishing circuit that would have to be contested 2.5 times. As seventy kilometers remained, three Category 4 climbs had been conquered, and the front duo had seen its lead drop to 01:30 minutes. Team Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek, UAE Team Emirates, and Alpecin-Deceuninck had taken control at the front of the main peloton.

Paul Ourselin decided to wait for the main peloton and got reeled in with 54 kilometers left. Pierre Thierry decided to press on as solo frontman, though with a narrow lead of just thirty seconds.

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), and Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) made a brief acceleration, but the attempt was neutralized shortly thereafter.

Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) attacked from the main peloton with 37 kilometers remaining and made the leap to frontman Thierry. The duo now had a lead of thirty-six seconds.

Thirty-one kilometers remained as the riders entered the final lap on the finishing circuit. The reshuffled front duo was now thirty seconds ahead, while the main peloton was starting its build-up for a mass sprint finish in Montlucon. The general classification teams were also active at the front of the peloton and not least Soudal-QuickStep were visible.

Pierre Thierry was running on fumes in the breakaway and Wright went solo on the narrow rural roads.

Ten kilometers remained and the main peloton was now just ten seconds behind Fred Wright, who was now virtually functioning as chase rabbit for the sprinter teams in the main peloton. The sprinter teams were busy building their lead-out trains for the anticipated mass sprint finish of stage 1, while other teams were looking to position their general classification favorites optimally in the peloton to avoid time losses.

Wright was reeled in by the peloton and Axel Laurance (Ineos-Grenadiers), Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), and Lukas Nerurkar (EF Education-EasyPost) launched counterattacks. The teams at the front of the peloton were busy trying to close all attacks down.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) launched an attack with 5.5-kilometers left. He was joined by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious). The quintet formed a lead of five seconds.

The advantage of the prominent front quintet was still five seconds when just two kilometers remained.

Van der Poel attacked from the front group in the final kilometer. The other riders closed it down. Van der Poel tried again. Tadej Pogacar launched a counterattack and sprinted past van der Poel to take the victory in stage 1 of Criterium du Dauphine ahead of Jonas Vingegaard. Van der Poel completed the stage podium.

“I did not expect to win the stage today, so I was just expecting a fast return to the team bus. Visma was clearly going for the stage win and fortunately I had good legs, so I could cover all their attacks,” stage winner Tadej Pogacar explained to Roadcycling.com.

“It was downhill most of the way to the finish, so I could recover a bit, focus on the GC and launch my sprint. I switched my focus with two kilometers to go to focus on the sprint and it worked. I still want to see how my shape will be in the time trial and in the mountain stages. The real tests will come later in the race. Don’t worry everyone, perhaps I will retire when my current contract is finished,” Pogacar added.

“I’m happy with how it went today and glad to finish second in the final sprint. I thought I would perform poorly in the sprint, but to get six bonus seconds by finishing second is better than expected,” Jonas Vingegaard explained to Roadcycling.com.

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