David Veilleux of Europcar took the spoils on a short-but-tough stage 1 of the Criterium du Dauphiné, attacking from the gun to spend a day in the lead and tomorrow in the leader's jersey.
Veilleux was joined by Thomas Damuseau (Argos – Shimano), Jean-Marc Bideau (Bretagne – Séché) and Ricardo Garcia (Euskaltel – Euskadi) and the quertet quickly built up a big lead; with 40km covered their advantage was over ten minutes. Tony Martin (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) went off the front of the peloton in an attampt to bridge and put his time trialling skills to good use, quickly riding to within a few minutes of the leaders.
Over the first-category Col du Corbier the lead group splintered and Veilleux struck out alone, leaving Damuseau and Garcia behind and Bideau, caught by Martin, further down the road. As the distance to the finish decreased it looked increasingly likely that Veilleux would have the legs to stay out, and so it proved. The Canadian took the tape in Champery almost two minutes up on the main field, which had caught the rest of the escapees on the final climb. Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) took second ahead of the bunch led by Tom Jelte Slagter.
Stage and overall standing
1. VEILLEUX David TEAM EUROPCAR 3h 17' 35" 2. MEERSMAN Gianni OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP +1' 56" 3. SLAGTER Tom Jelte BLANCO PRO CYCLING TEAM +1' 57" 4. PORTE Richie SKY PROCYCLING st 5. FROOME Christopher SKY PROCYCLING 6. MADRAZO Angel MOVISTAR TEAM 7. FUGLSANG Jakob ASTANA PRO TEAM 8. VALVERDE Alejandro MOVISTAR TEAM 9. GALLOPIN Tony RADIOSHACK LEOPARD 10. KONIG Leopold TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA 11. CONTADOR Alberto TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF 12. VICHOT Arthur FDJ 13. BARGUIL WARREN TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO 14. ROGERS Michael TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF 15. BAGOT Yoann COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS 16. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen LOTTO-BELISOL 17. SANCHEZ Samuel EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 18. KOREN Kristijan CANNONDALE 19. IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Gorka EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 20. TAARAMAE Rein COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS

3 thoughts on “Criterium du Dauphiné stage 1: Veilleux attacks from the gun to ride to victory”
Is this on telly?
Is this on telly?
Most breaks fail; this one
Most breaks fail; this one makes it all the way.
David Veilleux’s win at the Dauphine is a demonstration of what it takes to make it to the finish line first. Most breaks at the Pro Tour level are doomed to failure due to the institutional factors of the modern pro cycling race. Most of the escapados are neo-pros, locals, publicity-break riders or guys who don’t have the legs or the will to make it all the way but at least get to ride at the front for a few hours until swept up when the “real racing” starts. Race radio, mobile devices, team discipline, wattage science have created the nearly inevitable endgame we see in most modern races. The success of a break is to a large degree dependent on the organization of the chase, but at the same time it takes a special dose of strength and character to not sit up or flame out as the peloton closes in. DV got lucky as the chase was mainly really after Tony Martin, but also he rode as hard as was required to seal the deal, putting out one of the best rides of the season and showing the rest of the peloton and cycling fans around the world that it still can be done. Bravo!
Breakaways are always about
Breakaways are always about chancing your luck. If you don’t try you can’t succeed. Also, it helps if you are a ‘nobody’ since the teams won’t care about pulling you in to defend their GC contender.
It is always about the right confluence of events: parcours, crashes, weather, team motivations and how good a riders legs are. It has always been that way.