Spanish prodigy Iván Romeo rolled the dice with a late breakaway raid to put stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné and a first WorldTour leader’s jersey on his young palmarès.
Movistar’s former U23 time trial champion unleashed a 6km burner out of the day’s breakaway on Tuesday to thwart attacking rival Mathieu van der Poel‘s hopes on a hard, hilly stage that looked perfect for the monument champion.
“To be honest, I don’t know at the moment, I don’t believe it,” Romeo said at the line. “I don’t know what to say, honestly, I think it was one of the toughest days of my life so far.”
Overnight race leader Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) was in the hurt zone all through this tough Dauphiné stage across south east France.
The burly Italian speedster ceded his maillot jaune to the jubilant 21-year-old Romeo, who is now 17 seconds ahead of next-best Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty).
La célébration en équipe après la victoire en solitaire pour @ivanromeo_03 ☝️
Team celebration after a solo win by @ivanromeo_03 ☝️#Dauphiné pic.twitter.com/Ex880hrNv6
— Critérium du Dauphiné (@dauphine) June 10, 2025
Tour de France heavies Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogačar, and Jonas Vingegaard came to the line together in the peloton, more than one minute back on Romeo.
These three bigs allowed two dangerous GC rivals into the ring on Tuesday’s third stage.
Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) both vaulted dozens of positions up the classification after they made the day’s break with Van der Poel and Romeo.
Romeo gambles, Van der Poel takes risk: ‘It’s not up to me to respond to every single attack’
It was a huge win for Romeo on Tuesday.
The Spanish rouleur was touted for big things as soon as he joined Movistar from Hagens Berman Axeon in 2023, but he stalled in the time since.
Until Tuesday, he counted only one pro win alongside his gold medal from the 2024 U23 time trial worlds.
And Romeo’s win didn’t come easy Tuesday.
He had to contend with a power-packed breakaway dominated by MVDP. The 21-year-old attacked a handful of times in the final 10km as the escapees attempted to unhitch fast-finisher Van der Poel, and finally made it count with a daring raid almost 6km from the line.
“I told the team I needed to take the risk and not be very active in the break,” Romeo said. “So I waited to the last moment, and I know that if they gave me some seconds, I can make it.”
Mathieu van der Poel post-stage 3 #Dauphiné:
️”That was one of my hardest days on the bike ever.”
TNT Sports pic.twitter.com/Ud3Aynuwns
— Domestique (@Domestique___) June 10, 2025
Van der Poel was victim of being the big dog of the break.
“It was one of the hardest days I ever had on the bike,” the disappointed Dutchman said at the finish.
“I’m super happy with the shape, but it’s super hard to win in this position. Everything needs to be 100 percent correct.”
The multiple monument champion animated the final 20km with a handful of attacks, and then was leaned on to respond to every threat.
The one move he didn’t cover – that of Romeo – was the one that got away.
“A lot of riders were looking at me, but of course, you have to look at others if you want to win the stage,” Van der Poel said. “It’s not up to me to respond to every single attack. That was the gamble – I responded to several but not all of them.”
Critérium du Dauphiné stage 3 results:
How it happened: ‘Adieu, Romain,’ and a bonus point raid by Pogačar and Evenepoel
The retiring Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL) saw a king’s send-off when he rolled out of his hometown of Brioude for Tuesday’s stage.
Junior racers from Bardet’s former club VSB Brivadois joined packed crowds of the 34-year-old’s friends, family, and lifelong supporters for an emotional au revoir.
Bardet didn’t get much time to soak it all in, because Evenepoel, Pogačar, and Van der Poel weren’t wasting any time in blowing up the start of what would be a long grueling stage.
Evenepoel was first to get active in the initial hour of racing, and Pogi wasn’t letting himself be outdone.
Pogačar accelerated out of a fractured peloton at the stage’s super-early intermediate sprint point to scoop some easy bonus time.
Pogačar was second across the line behind Intermarché rider Barré with Evenepoel third, giving these two Tour de France toppers two and one bonus GC seconds respectively.
Van der Poel, unleashed
The break got away soon after, and guess who was there – MVDP.
Van der Poel formed part of a power-packed escape that dangled around 90 seconds in front of the pack for much of the stage.
Romeo, Lipowitz, Dunbar, Andreas Leknessund (Uno X), and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) shared headline status in the break with the big Dutchman.
Quick-Step and UAE Emirates set a wicked pace through a long and relentless lumpy stage. Yellow jersey Milan and several heavy sprinters yo-yo’d on and off the back as these GC teams kept their prize assets in the safety of the front rows of the bunch.
The stage exploded when it hit the Côte du Château Jaune at 20km.
The cruel 10 percent kicker carved open the breakaway and put the sprinters in the peloton way into the hurt zone.
Van der Poel looked like he was itching for the stage-win in the final romp to the line.
He did a huge amount of work pulling the break together after it split, and attacked a handful of times thereafter.
And of course, nobody wanted to bring this fast-finisher to the line. Lipowitz, Leknessund, and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) all made half-hearted attacks to try to thwart a small group finish.
Romeo also made several accelerations before he launched his all-out winning raid just inside 6km to go.
When the Spaniard moved, the break became a big mess behind.
Van der Poel finally refused to do all the chasing, and Romeo romped home.
Up next at the Dauphiné: Time trial to reshape the GC in crucial Tour de France test
A tricky 17km time trial on Wednesday will shuffle the GC deck and serve as an intriguing insight for the Tour de France.
There are few twists and turns on the course, but a 1.8km, 8.5 percent climb rears its ugly head midway through the stage to make this a TT test of raw power, climbing prowess, and aero position.
They say time trials are the ultimate “race of truth.” Will any of the Tour de France hopefuls be found out in this brutal test of form?