Despite fall: Evenepoel defends yellow

Before the difficult mountain stages this weekend, Remco Evenepoel successfully defended his lead in the Dauphiné cycling race.

June 12, 2025

From: apa/dpa

The Belgian crashed shortly before the finish on Thursday's fifth stage from Saint-Priest, covering 182,6 km, to Mâcon, but the three-kilometer rule had no consequences. Starting Friday, a three-way battle between Tour stars Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Evenepoel is expected.

Evenepoel leads by four seconds ahead of German Florian Lipowitz and 14 seconds ahead of Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel. Vingegaard follows 16 seconds behind, and Pogacar is 38 seconds back. Friday features five climbs, concluding with a Category 1800 mountain. A day later, three top-of-the-range climbs follow on the way to Valmeinier XNUMX, before the dress rehearsal for the Tour de France concludes on Sunday on the Plateau du Mont-Cenis.

The day's victory on Thursday went to Briton Jake Stewart in the sprint of the main field ahead of Frenchman Axel Laurence and Sören Waerenskjold from Norway.