Jake Stewart denied Jonathan Milan and Lidl-Trek in sensational fashion Thursday at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Israel Premier-Tech’s sprint surprise outkicked the bunch after Lidl-Trek did all the pulling in a super hot, high-speed fifth stage of the race.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) crashed inside the final kilometer but got away lucky. The race leader was able to pedal to the line with only minor scuffs and abrasions on his knee and shoulder.
Evenpoel’s crash was within the “safe zone,” and so he didn’t lose any time ahead of a grueling mountainous final to the week.
He was quick to brush off the potential impacts of his fall when he spoke to the media after the stage.
“I don’t know what happened, maybe my hand slipped on the bars, or my hands were sweaty with the humidity,” Evenepoel said at the finish. “It’s nothing huge, the injuries are not bad.
“It’s nothing, just some skin off … it’s nothing bad and not on bad parts of the body, it was an unlucky moment.”
The Yellow Jersey, Remco Evenepoel crashed in the last km and hurt a bit his middle finger (at least that’s what I understand from this photo). #Dauphine pic.twitter.com/bdaf57iKdh
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) June 12, 2025
Evenepoel’s GC rivals Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) rolled in with the bunch.
The result leaves the race exquisitely poised for three huge days in the Alps beginning Friday. Eight riders, including Pogačar and Vingegaard, are within 39 seconds of “golden Remco” and his yellow jersey.
Victory on Thursday was huge for Stewart. The 25-year-old counted only three wins on his palmarès before this career-topping win Thursday in the Dauphiné.
“This is my biggest win. Other than the Tour de France, it doesn’t get much bigger than winning at the Dauphiné,” Stewart said. “This whole year feels like it’s been a breakthrough for me, I’ve not been sick or injured. My coach has got me in really good shape and the team has supported me really well.
“I knew I had to get the jump on Milan and go before he could start to accelerate, so I kicked with 300m to go and it worked perfectly,” Stewart continued. “This is huge for me, it’s been a long time coming.
Critérium du Dauphiné stage 5 results
Israel-Premier Tech deploys Plan B, Quick-Step keeps Evenepoel safe … until the final kilometer
The breakaway was pushed to the limit Thursday in a raging hot, hyper-fast stage through south-central France.
Five riders got away but not even a blustering tailwind would help their chances. Mathieu van der Poel was not a part of the move after many expected the big Dutch ace to go rampaging for a potential yellow jersey.
The breakaway never got much more than 90 seconds of a gap on a stage clearly circled in red by the sprinters. The peloton’s fast-finishers will only be racing to beat the time cut for the rest of the week as the race heads into the Alps.
No surprise, it was Lidl-Trek working to keep the attack in check for sprint alpha Milan. The big Italian was top favorite for a possible bunch kick, even more so when Pascal Ackermann of Israel-Premier Tech crashed out of the stage.
But Ackermann’s crash didn’t stop Israel-Premier Tech from believing in “Plan B: Stewart.”
Soudal Quick-Step also kept toward the front through the stage to protect Evenepoel, but it couldn’t do enough to keep him safe in the wild dash through Mâcon and into the sprint finish.
Lidl-Trek dominates but doesn’t deliver
Lidl-Trek will be ruing their race Thursday.
The U.S.-based team controlled the hilly mid-section of the stage to perfection. The color-block crew clustered around Milan to keep the sprinter in the mix over the final climb of the day and left the unfortunate break to bake.
The final three attackers – Jordan Labrosse (Ag2r La Mondiale), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), and Thibaut Guernalec (Arkea-B&B) – dug deep to keep clear all through the gallop into the finale in Mâcon.
The race was teetering on a knife-edge all through the final kilometers – would the breakaway survive?
Sorry, no.
A final surge of pace by the GC teams and sprint outsiders Israel-Premier Tech ended the remaining attackers’ day inside the final 1500 meters.
XDS-Astana’s GC hope Harold Tejada abandoned the stage after he suffered a nasty crash. The rising Colombian started the day in 7th, well in range of a potential raid on the yellow jersey.
Up next at the Dauphiné: Hilly triple-header kicks off in Combloux
Don’t expect to see much of the sprinters for the rest of the week, because the Dauphiné reaches GC crunch-point Friday.
Stage 6 is the first of three hilly and mountainous stages that will decide who wins the Dauphiné’s yellow jersey and takes the bragging rights into the Tour de France.
The short, explosive stage Friday and its Cat.2 summit finish will serve a spicey appetizer for what’s poised to be a huge weekend in the Alps. Time gaps on the 2.7km kicker finale of stage 6 will likely be small.
However, the gains and losses the day afterward could be huge. Stage 7 on Saturday is a proper “old school” ASO stage with three HC summits that amass close to 5,000 meters of gain.
Sunday’s conclusive eighth stage – a grinding all-uphill slog to Mont Cenis – will be ridden on some very tired legs.