British Road Race champion Peter Kennaugh stole the victory on stage 1 of the Critérium du Dauphiné from the sprinters with an amazing final attack
Critérium du Dauphiné – Stage 1
British Road Race champion Peter Kennaugh stole the victory on stage 1 of the Critérium du Dauphiné from the sprinters with an amazing final attack. The Isle of Man rider rode away from a front group before the peloton had a chance to swallow him up and give the sprinters their chance of the victory.
Photo:Â A.S.O./X.BourgoisÂ
In a thrilling finale, hot favorites Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) could only realize the damage was done by the reigning Olympic champion for team pursuit.
A crash after 3km took Gert Dockx (Lotto-Soudal) out of the race as the Belgian broke an elbow and a collarbone. Maarten Wijnants (LottoNL-Jumbo), Romain Guillemois (Europcar), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) and Björn Thurau (Bora-Argon 18) rode away from the peloton at km 8.5.
Their advantage reached a maximum of 7.20 at km 26 before several teams successively took the command of the peloton: Lampre-Merida, Cofidis, Cannondale-Garmin, Orica-GreenEdge. While Teklehaimanot was busy catching every point he could for the King of the Mountains price, the gap was stabilized under six minutes after one hour of racing.
The lanky Eritrean secured the first polka dot jersey and the front group split in two in the second last ascent of the côte du Villard with 27km to go. Teklehaimanot was the only rider able to follow the rhythm of Thurau. But one lap (15km) later, he couldn’t, so the German tried to finish it off on his own while counter-attacks were formed behind him, firstly by Daniel Oss (BMC) who eventually received the help of Pete Kennaugh (Sky), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) and Danilo Wyss (IAM Cycling).
Thurau got caught by his five chasers with 4km to go. Just before the 2km mark, Kennaugh rode away solo in a similar effort he learnt on the track. He resisted the come-back of the peloton and it was a missed opportunity for the sprinters. Modolo took second place ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) while fourth placed Tiejs Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) claimed the white jersey of best young rider.
“It was an awesome feeling,” Kennaugh told TeamSky.com after the race. “Having a few little digs on the climb was nice to do. I spend a lot of time working for other guys so it was just nice to have that opportunity. It wasn’t really planned or anything – it was just how the race panned out. As long as I didn’t take any of the threats to GC with me it was all good”.
“It just worked out perfectly. I always knew that once we got that gap and the bunch wasn’t coming back super fast, that we had a chance. Then I just planned to attack within the last 3km, fully committed to that and pulled it off luckily.”
With victory coming off the back of a long stint on the road, Kennaugh admitted that it was a day which made the sacrifices worth it, in addition to ranking it as one of the best wins of his career.
“[Winning in] Austria was good as it was my first kind of real stage race, and to win in the stripes there. But I think this could potentially be my last race in the jersey. Just to win races in consecutive years as well is nice, and then also the fact that I get to wear the yellow jersey at the Dauphine”.
“I didn’t realise to be honest until I almost got onto the podium. It’s awesome to be able to wear the jersey at such a prestigious race. It’s incredible. Obviously I had an injury and three weeks totally off the bike back in March. I’ve literally spent the last seven weeks on the road so it’s just nice to have it all finally pay off”.
“It was a big commitment, not seeing any family or spending any time at home. I did the Ardennes, three days in Nice, and then Romandie which I didn’t finish. That was quite hard on the head but despite that I was still doing five-hour training days on my own out there while the guys were racing. Those kind of days on your own in the rain are the days where your commitment and sacrifices really count I suppose”.
“Then California was nice and something different. I started to feel like I was going okay there, even though I was only at about 65 or 70% of what I knew I could do. Once I got over the jetlag in Tenerife I finished the camp quite well.”
“Then I was able to go home to the Isle of Man for the first time in a while to just have a bit of down-time. It’s nice to be rewarded for something after those darker, harder days when nothing really feels like it’s going right. You sometimes question what you’re doing it for, then when you get days like this it makes up for it. I’m over the moon.”
1. Peter Kennaugh, Team Sky 3:06:51
2. Sacha Modolo, Lampre-Merida 0:00:02
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen, MTN – Qhubeka
4. Tiesj Benoot, Lotto Soudal
5. Simon Gerrans, Orica GreenEdge
6. Nacer Bouhanni, Cofidis, Solutions Credits
7. Jay McCarthy, Tinkoff-Saxo
8. Alejandro Valverde, Movistar Team
9. Samuel Dumoulin, AG2R La Mondiale
10. Cyril Gautier, Team Europcar
16. Christopher Froome, Team Sky
56. Ian Stannard, Team Sky
63. Daniel Martin, Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
65. Simon Yates, Orica GreenEdge
82. Stephen Cummings, MTN – Qhubeka
84. Adam Yates, Orica GreenEdge
135. Luke Rowe, Team Sky 4.18
155. Alex Dowsett, Movistar Team
Send your results as well as club, team & event news here
Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)
- Features, Reports, Results
- CX Result: North West Cyclocross League 7
- Track Result: Manchester Regional Track League 14
- CX Result: Jersey Cyclocross League 3
- CX Result: Western Cyclo Cross League Round 6
- CX Result: CCXL Round 9
- CX Result: London and South East CX League 8
- CX Result: South West CX League Round 6
- CX Result: Yorkshire Cyclo-Cross League Round 5
- CX Result: Leicestershire CycloCross League Rd 3
- CX Result: Lincolnshire Cyclocross League 7
- CX Result: Shimano Lazer WMCCL Rd 9
- CX Result: Wessex Cyclocross rd 8
- CX Result: Eastern Region Cyclocross League 6
- CX Result: Notts and Derby CX League 5
- Tofauti Everyone Active announces new partners and new name for 2025
- Rider News: Matt Thompson signs for French Team BMC Bezier
- CX Result: Welsh Cyclo-cross League Round 5
- CX Result: Western Cyclo Cross League Round 5
- CX Result: London and South East CX League Rd 7
- CX Result: SWCX League Round 5
- CX Result: Yorkshire Cyclo-Cross League Round 4
- CX Result: Lincolnshire Cyclocross League 6
- CX Result: Shimano Lazer WMCCL Round 7
- Track Result: Manchester Regional Track League Wk 13
- News: Youth Tour of Scotland 2025
- CX Result: CXNE 2024/25 Round 6
- CX Result: SCX Series Rd 4 (Linlithgow)
- Crit Result: Full Gas Winter Circuit Series #5
- CX Result: NWCCA Round 6
- CX Result: Central CycloCross League 8
- CX Result: Notts & Derby Cyclocross League 4
- FEATURE: Billy Ladle’s Stellar Season Recognised at British Cycling Awards
- 2025 Prologue Junior Race Team
- STARTLIST: BUCS Hill Climb Championships
- News: West Midlands Road Race League Winner 2024
- Crit Result: Full Gas Winter Series #4
- TT Result: Brighton Mitre CC 25m TT
- CX Result: London and South East CX League Round 6
- CX Result: Central Cyclocross League Round 7
- CX Result: Wessex Cyclocross League Round 7
Other News on VeloUK
- Tofauti Everyone Active announces new partners and new name for 2025
- Rider News: Matt Thompson signs for French Team BMC Bezier
- News: Youth Tour of Scotland 2025
- FEATURE: Billy Ladle’s Stellar Season Recognised at British Cycling Awards
- 2025 Prologue Junior Race Team
- STARTLIST: BUCS Hill Climb Championships
- News: West Midlands Road Race League Winner 2024
- Tofauti Everyone Active reveals its roster for 2025
- This weekend: National Trophy Cyclocross 2
- Team News: INEOS Announce Structure/Staff Changes
- STARTLIST: RTTC National Hill Climb Championships
- Feature: The Pedal Club Lunch (October)
- NEWS! Max Walker joins EF Education-EasyPost
- World Tour win for Ethan Vernon
- Louise Sutton signs for Euskaltel Euskadi Team
- STARTLIST: Scottish National Hill Climb Championships 2024
- Rider News: Ben Marsh off to France to race
- Report/Result: World Gravel Championships
- This Weekend (Oct 5/6): National Trophy Cyclocross Round 1
- IOM 2024 YOUTH LEAGUE FINAL OVERALL
- Holiday Rentals: Escape to Casa Guadalest (Spain)
- Sponsor News: Custom Clothing from Santini
- News: Ribble launches the Allroad Ti – Crafted for More
- NEWS: The Pedal Club Lunch — September with Jez Cox
- Ultimate Cycling Experience at CHS Ciclismo
- Worlds: Great Britain Riders for 2024 Road Worlds
- Rider Report: Alistair Gardner wins two Kermesses
- EVENTS: Portmore Classic (29th of September, Dorset)
- STARTLIST: National Youth (GHS) Championship Final
- Tour of Britain: Provisional Startlist
- Sunday: Jef Schils Memorial (National B)
- This Weekend: RTTC National 10 mile Championship
- Q&A: Killian O’Brien – third in the Junior Tour of Wales
- TOM PIDCOCK CONFIRMED FOR LLOYDS BANK TOUR OF BRITAIN MEN
- Startlist: 42nd Junior Tour of Wales
- Startlist: 360 North West Youth Tour
- Tour of Britain: Evenepoel/Alaphilippe To Race National Tour
- GB Juniors for Track Worlds in China
- THIS WEEKEND: CYCLOCROSS (Leicestershire)
- Startlist: Men’s National B (Worcestershire)