Italy’s Davide Formolo completed a courageous solo break over two Alpine summits to win stage three of the Criterium du Dauphine yesterday.
Overnight leader Primoz Roglic of Jumbo-Visma was second, extending his overall advantage over French climber Thibaut Pinot and Ineos general Egan Bernal with a brief burst at the end of the 157km run between Corenc and Saint-Martin-de-Belleville.
Former ski jumper Roglic once again underlined his burgeoning status as favourite to win the upcoming Tour de France while Bernal’s teammates Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas have been unable as yet to deliver the kind of support Roglic enjoyed on the steep climbs.
Bernal was nine seconds adrift of Roglic in 14th on the day while four-time Tour de France champion Froome eased up at the foot of the final slope, finishing 15 minutes off the pace. Ineos’ Russian climber Pavel Sivakov said after the race he felt Bernal had been huge.
“Egan told me that he was not feeling super today,” said the Russian champion who stayed with Bernal once Thomas dropped off. “It’s still a long way to the Tour, especially to the third week. We’ve got time, we don’t need to stress or worry.”
Not feeling super, the exposed Bernal finished just a few seconds adrift of the leading clutch of contenders.
Roglic leads Pinot by just 14sec in the overall standings with Bernal now seventh at 31sec in a top 10 littered with potential winners.
“It was a nice day,” smiled the Slovenian after slipping on the leader’s yellow jersey again.
“The two toughest days still remain, and we need to stay focussed, I have some tough guys round me,” he said. French climber Pinot will be a Tour challenger and promised this week “we’ll be competitive”.
“I suffered in the heat today, but there are two more remaining and those who fancy their chances will make it very interesting riding,” Pinot said.
Every rider who made the top 12 of the 2019 Tour de France is on the roster here
The 27-year-old Formolo of the UAE Emirates Team said afterwards he had also won an internal battle with himself to fight through the pain barrier.
“My morale dropped but I continued to work hard and the victory finally came,” said the day’s winner who went solo on the epic ascent of the Col de La Madeleine, 17.3km at over eight percent incline and one of the attractions of the up-coming Tour de France. Speeding through flower-laden Alpine villages with their wooden ski chalets, Formolo stooped low in a daredevil descent before tackling the 14.8km final ascent at 6 percent, with the peloton closing in fast he was at one point gasping and talking to himself.
“On the last climb I didn’t know and I prayed that I would be first,” Formolo admitted after he crossed the line in 4hr 6min 56sec.There are two further climbing days with Sunday’s finale at Megeve featuring a spectacular panorama at the finish line with Mont Blanc in the background.
Italy’s Davide Formolo celebrates as he crosses the finish line at the end of the third stage of the 72nd edition of the Criterium du Dauphine yesterday. (AFP)
