Van der Poel entertains, but Martinez wins final stage of Dauphiné: Pogacar holds off Vingegaard's attack and wins GC

In the two previous stages, Tadej Pogacar showed who the boss was in France. With two fantastic stage wins, he left Jonas Vingegaard in his wake and consolidated his lead in the GC in Saturday's queen stage. After two grueling stages, was he in the mood to go for the stage win on Sunday? It would have been his 100th victory. But the breakaway riders also sensed their chance in the not-so-difficult final stage.

The battle occurred during two short climbs in the opening phase. Several breakaway attempts were made, and we saw many familiar names. Men such as Ben Healy (EF Education—EasyPost), Iván Romeo (Movistar), and Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) were also in the breakaway on Saturday. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) saw a dozen riders break away and wanted to join them. He succeeded, bringing the number of riders at the front to 12.

Enric Mas (Movistar) was best positioned in the GC of those leaders. Other names in the breakaway included Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Tobias Foss (INEOS Grenadiers), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R), and the Israel - Premier Tech duo Jake Stewart and Alexey Lutsenko. These were strong men, and after about 30 kilometers of racing, they were given space by the peloton. A late breakaway attempt by Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) failed.

The lead grew to about 4 minutes, but Uno-X Mobility saw Mas as a dangerous rival for Tobias Halland Johannessen, who was fifth in the GC. So the lead gradually diminished before the riders reached the Col de Beaune, a first-category climb. If Van der Poel made it over that climb, he would have a chance to definitively take the green jersey from Pogacar, who was tied on points, in the intermediate sprint in Saint Michel de Mauriènne.

How would the Dutchman from Alpecin-Deceuninck do it? He could probably have waited for a sprint, but that's not Mathieu van der Poel's style. He broke away, crossed the line first, and kept pedaling relentlessly. In no time, he had more than half a minute's lead over the second group, which included better climbers. The peloton followed 3 minutes behind, but did they still feel like catching up with the breakaway riders?

Meanwhile, it started to rain. Van der Poel is an excellent descender and isn't bothered by bad weather, but he gave us a scare with a near crash. The peloton became nervous, and there were gaps here and there. These were patched up, but it was clear that the tension was high. Meanwhile, the green jersey had already gained more than a minute's lead over the chasers. Even on the Côte d'Aussois, the day's penultimate climb, he didn't lose a meter.

Was a fairy tale possible? It would be difficult because climbing the Col du Mont-Cenis was no walk in the park. Uno-X continued to set the pace in the peloton. In the valley leading to the final climb, the pace among the chasers picked up, and Van der Poel saw what was coming: he dropped back and started the last climb of the day with the rest. The gap to the favorites, of whom about 40 remained, was 1:30 minutes. Van der Poel immediately decided that was enough: he let them go.

Romain Bardet, who retired and received a magnificent guard of honor before the start, also took it easy. At the front, however, it was war: Kuss pushed hard, and only Healy, Martinez, Van Gils, Paret-Peintre, and Mas could follow. The favorites were not far behind, though: the gap was only a minute on the initial slopes. UAE Team Emirates had regained the lead, so anything could still happen.

Mas attacked at the front, and it was clear that the Spaniard was in excellent shape. Healy jumped with him but exploded. Martinez could ride to the Movistar leader's wheel, who did not look back once. The peloton reacted: Johannessen felt the pressure and accelerated. The resulting chaos led to a crash on the climb, with Paul Seixas, the biggest victim. The young climber was sixth in the GC and had to continue with a broken handlebar.

Mas powered on at the front, and Martinez was struggling. Wellens kept the pace very high among the favorites, but again, John took responsibility. The response came from Remco Evenepoel, and immediately, Evenepoel and Pogacar were on his wheel. Lipowitz had to drop back a little, but he was supported by Van Gils, who had lost ground. As a result, the gap did not become very large, but Evenepoel also had a pawn in the form of Paret-Peintre, who put himself in the lead.

At the front, it turned out that Martinez was playing a game. Just as Mas took a bidon from a motorcyclist, the young Frenchman jumped away. The Spaniard had no answer. Behind them, Vingegaard jumped away: Pogacar was easily on his wheel, but Evenepoel couldn't immediately follow. The favorites went up and over the Mas group, where Healy and Kuss had returned. Vingegaard now had a man who could go all out on the final slopes of the high Alpine pass.

Martinez was the first to reach the top and still had 5 kilometers on the plateau. He had a 45-second lead over the two strong riders, who continued to work well together. However, the stage victory was out of reach: it went to Martinez. Vingegaard won the sprint for second place because the yellow jersey did not attempt to challenge him.