Daniel Martinez wins 2020 Criterium du Dauphine, Sepp Kuss conquers last stage
Aug 16 2020 10:43 pm CET
Criterium du Dauphine
EF Pro Cycling's Daniel Felipe Martinez has taken the overall victory of the 2020 Criterium du Dauphine, while Jumbo-Visma's Sepp Kuss took the win of the last stage.
The last stage of the race started with the news of GC leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) abandoning the race due to the injuries he suffered during a crash on the day before. The ten first kilometres of the last stage of the race were neutralised by the riders in protest for the dangerous course that caused the crashes of riders like Emanuel Buchmann, Gregor Muhlberger and Steven Kruijswijk on the fourth stage.
The course of the day had a start and finish in Megeve over 153.5 kilometres and included one HC climb, one ascent of the first category and five climbs of the second category, including the finish. The stage started with Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) on top of the General Classification.
The escape group of the day included riders like Wout van Aert, Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Pavel Ivakov (Ineos) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) among others. During the ascent of the Col dela Colombiere, Alaphilippe made a move and was followed by Sivakov and the two men remained in front until the Russian crashed with around 30 kilometres to go, but got back to his bike and made his return to the Frenchman.
Behind and with 25 kilometres remaining, Pogacar attacked from the chasers and took Miguel Angel Lopez with him. Kilometres later, the Slovenian made a new move and left the Colombian behind and he went on to join the two men in front and soon other riders like Lopez, Daniel Martinez and Sepp Kuss also arrived to the front.
With seven kilometres to go, Kuss launched an attack from the front and went on by himself while behind Pinot and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) were trying to catch the chasers to avoid Martinez from taking the final victory.
The American rider crossed the finish line by himself, taking his first victory of the season. Martinez arrived in the second position -27 seconds after Kuss- and it was enough for him to win the 2020 edition of the race, while Pinot and Martin completed the final podium.
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDS