Tadej Pogacar welcomes surprise opening stage win at Criterium du Dauphine 2025 ahead of superstar rivals - 'I was not expecting this'

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The Criterium du Dauphine got off to an incredible start as Tadej Pocagar seized the first yellow jersey with a surprise opening stage win in France, via a late charge past the peloton. The Slovenian pounced in the final sprint, powering past a tired Mathieu van der Poel in the last 50 metres, with Jonas Vingegaard coming in second. Pogacar admitted he did not expect his win.

'Beaten the sprinters at their own game!' - Pogacar wins incredible opening stage

Video credit: TNT Sports

Tadej Pogacar took a surprise opening stage win at Criterium du Dauphine, beating Jonas Vingegaard and Mathieu van der Poel.

The group of Van der Poel, Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Santiago Buitrago had pulled ahead with 6km to go.

Pogacar then timed his attack to perfection as Van der Poel launched his sprint, and he surged to the line ahead of the Dutchman.

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The Slovenian admitted he did not expect himself to win the first stage.

"I was not expecting this," he said. "I was all prepared to come back to the bus pretty fast, to take a shower and enjoy the rest of the day, but I don't mind being here as well.

"I followed moves on the steep part of the climb and then Visma was clearly going for the stage win - they were trying with everybody to attack."

He continued: "Fortunately I had good legs. Then Jonas attacked on the last one. That one was painful but luckily it was almost downhill to the finish, so I could recover a bit.

"Around 2km to go, I was starting to think more about the sprint - I knew Van der Poel was the fastest in this group, obviously - so I switched my focus to that.

"I can go home happy already, but I still want to see how the shape will be with the TT and in the mountain stages. The real test is coming."

Pogacar insists ‘real test is coming’ after thrilling opening stage win

Video credit: TNT Sports

Vingegaard, who finished second behind Pogacar, said he was happy with the result, admitting that Pogacar was "just faster" than he was.

"I'm happy with how it went today," the Dane said. "Happy I could make a difference - I guess it's the first time I finished second in a bunch sprint.

"Tadej was just faster than I was, so congrats to him. There was lots of cooperation and I guess I was the one cooperating the least.

"I thought that I would be the loser in the sprint, and in a way I was. Not ideal to lose four seconds to Tadej but to get six bonus seconds is quite good."

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