Dauphiné: Sepp Kuss wins final stage, Daniel Martínez takes overall victory

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) won the fifth and final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné Sunday.

The 25-year-old Coloradan took victory with an attack from the breakaway with nine kilometers remaining of the multi-mountain test around Megève, France. Daniel Martínez (EF Pro Cycling) and Tadej Pogaçar (UAE Team Emirates) rounded out the stage podium.

Kuss’ victory came after working tirelessly in support of his team leaders through the opening four stages of the race, putting a cap on a run of August performances marking him as one of the best climbers in the pro peloton. He will now go on to make his Tour de France debut in 13 days’ time, working for his team leaders in the mountains.

“It’s been one of the hardest days I’ve had on the bike,” Kuss said. “It was full-on from the start. I saw everyone was really tired and I could take advantage because I was lower on GC. I’ve trained harder than ever and I’m having so much fun on the bike right now. Now we can focus on the Tour de France with a confidence booster.”

Martínez’s second place on the stage was enough to give him the overall victory.

The Colombian started the stage in fourth overall after race leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) did not start having sustained a number of injuries in his crash Saturday.

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) had assumed the GC lead at the start of the Sunday’s stage, though the Frenchman lost too much time on the final climb of the day to maintain his place at the top of the podium, leaving him settling for second-place overall. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) took third on GC.

The mountain-packed race burst into life early on, with the bunch fracturing on the Hors Categorie Col de Romme in the opening 50km of the stage.

The lead group fractured and swelled repeatedly, and by the summit of the second climb major climb of the day, all the main GC contenders were in a chase group of 20 behind Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos), who had attacked off the front on the lower slopes of the ascent.

Ineos pair Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas did not make the front bunch after the initial shakeups and subsequent settling of the race.

After the opening progression of climbs and going into the final 50km, Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren), Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic) and Richie Porte (Trek Segafredo) had all fallen off the pace of the main chase group, with the two escapees now 1:30 ahead.

Sivakov was the next casualty of the crash-riddled race, losing his back wheel on a wide arching descent with 30km to go. The Ineos rider hit the deck hard, knocking his head, picking up a huge tear to his jersey and a large patch of road rash on his back. The young Russian was able to get back on his bike and chase and bridge back to Alaphilippe, who had gone on solo.

Behind the two leaders, Pogaçar, Martínez, and Miguel Angel Lopéz (Astana) attacked out of the GC group on the third-last climb of the day. Martínez and Kuss set off in pursuit, and by the bottom of the descent, six riders – Kuss, Pogaçar, Martínez, Alaphilippe, Sivakov and Lopéz – came together at the front, while the main chase group began breaking down behind them.

With the final 20km of the stage pointing entirely uphill, the attacks began flying in the front group, with Alaphilippe falling off the pace.

With Lopéz and Martinez starting the day on the same time on GC in fourth and fifth, and the trio ahead of them in the standings over one minute behind them on the stage, the two Colombians started attacking each other from the lead group.

Sensing his GC lead under threat from Martínez and Lopéz, Pinot picked up the pace in the chase group, and the gap to the five escapees soon started to tumble.

Kuss accelerated away from his escape companions with 9 kilometers to go and soon opened a 20-second gap on the grinding five percent uphill to the line at the Megève Altiport.

The 25-year-old went into TT mode through the final, wrists on the bars, railing the corners through the final climb. Martínez led the group behind the flying American though was unable to prevent the Coloradan from increasing his gap. However, the Colombian’s wider objective was to wrestle the GC victory from Pinot, who was chasing frantically behind.

Kuss went on without looking back and came onto the finishing strip alone, taking his second major stage win after also climbing to victory in the Vuelta a España last summer.

https://twitter.com/JumboVismaRoad/status/1295015967429451778

Back in the GC group, attacks flew from Pinot though he was unable to make headway as the GC lead began to slip from his grasp. The Frenchman’s continued aggression proved insufficient for him to limit his losses to Martínez, who finished 35 seconds ahead of him, second on the stage.

The result left Pinot taking second overall, with Martínez securing the first major GC victory of his career. He is part of his team’s lineup for the Tour later this month.

“This morning they told me Roglic wouldn’t start, so I knew the race would be hectic from the beginning,” Martínez said. “I was on my limit but I was determined to make it to the finish. It’s one of the biggest races in the world and to be able to win, coming from Colombia – it makes me very happy.”