Critérium du Dauphiné 2025 Stage 3

June 10, 2025 At 207KM, it’s the longest stage of the race leaving Brioude in the Auvergne to take on five categorized climbs totaling over 3,000M of elevation. Four of the climbs come in the first two-thirds of the stage with the final of the Côte du Château Jaune topping out about 20KM from the finish. It is steeper and longer than the Côte de Buffon from Stage 1 which should put an end to any hopes the sprinters would have of arriving in Charantonnay for the stage win. With an ITT tomorrow, the GC riders may have their focus elsewhere so today could be one for the break. Temperatures increased from yesterday, up to 26C (79F) with the real feel a few degrees warmer. The farewell tour continued for Romain Bardet, taking to the start in his hometown amongst family and friends. The attacking was relentless from the start but eventually a group of 13 riders got away including Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Axel Laurance and Michael Leonard of Ineos, Julien Bernard of Lidl-Trek, Harold Tejada of XDS-Astana, Iván Romeo of Movistar, Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility, Brieuc Rolland of Groupama-FDJ, Krists Neilands of Israel-Premier Tech, Eddie Dunbar of Jayco AlUla, Louis Barré of Intermarché-Wanty, and Anthony Turgis of TotalEnergies. They had 1 minute 30 seconds on the bunch with 63KM to go with UAE-XRG and Soudal Quickstep doing the work to keep things in check. More urgency was showing in the peloton as they crossed the Rhône river with 40KM to go because the gap had increased to 1 minute 45 seconds and there were dangerous riders up the road for the overall, namely Lipowitz and Tejada. The familiar formation of teams in color order appeared with 35KM to go as the Côte du Château Jaune was on the horizon. Soudal Quickstep, Visma-Lease a Bike, Bahrain Victorious, Ineos, Decathlon AG2R, and UAE-XRG were all shoulder to shoulder across the road. Other teams wanted be at the front but there was not enough space. The pace went higher and higher as more power was required to hold position. When the break made a sharp left turn to start the Côte du Château Jaune with 20KM to go, their lead was down to just 1 minute. Lipowitz, Bernard, Leknessund, and Tejada proved to be the strongest on the climb from the break but six riders joined together over the top in a chase group consisting of van der Poel, Romeo, Rolland, Dunbar, and Barré. UAE-XRG rode the entire climb at the front of the peloton. It was a hard enough pace that dropped race leader Jonathan Milan but nothing to trouble the GC favorites and the four leaders were able to retain their 1 minute advantage. At the bottom of the descent with 13KM to go, Barré and van der Poel joined Lipowitz, Bernard, Leknessund, and Tejada to make six at the front with 1 minute 20 seconds on the peloton. 2KM later, Romeo did a huge pull that brought himself, Dunbar, Rolland, and Laurance back into the fray to make a 10 rider front group. The cohesion completely broke down and it wasn't long before they started attacking each other. It was like a heavy weight boxing match with blow after blow coming from all around but there was no separation until 5.5KM to go when Romeo hit the group when most were free wheeling. The rest of the group continued to attack each other but Romeo had flown the coop. The former U23 ITT World Champion paced the finale perfectly and came to the finish alone to take the first World Tour win of his career. Tejada won the sprint for second ahead of Barré and Lipowitz, 14 seconds after Romeo crossed the line. The rest of the break came in at 27 seconds with the peloton rolling in at 1 minute 8 seconds. The GC shifted today with the break making it to the finish. As a result, Romeo takes over the race lead by 17 seconds to Barré and 18 seconds on Tejada. Lipowitz also had a good day. He is fourth overall at 24 seconds and will have a head start of 46 seconds on Vingegaard, Evenepoel, and Pogačar in his bid for the overall at the end of the week.