2025 Criterium du Dauphine Stage 8

Pogacar shows who is boss as we inch closer to the Tour.

Welcome back to the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine, we last dropped in on the race for the stage 4 time trial, which was won by Remco Evenepoel who took the yellow jersey. The following day on stage 5 British sprinter Jake Stewart won a bunch sprint into Macon, and Remco held onto his yellow jersey. On stage 6 however we saw the first summit finish of the race, and the first trademark attack by boy wonder Tadej Pogacar. On the final slopes of relatively short climb to Combloux (2.7km at 7.7%), Pogacar rode away from Jonas Vingegaard almost effortlessly, as if he was being carried by a gentle breeze. And just like that, he was suddenly 43 seconds ahead of the Dane, and into the yellow jersey. Yesterday, on Stage 7, the Queen stage of this Dauphine, Pogacar won again, his second stage win of the race. He attacked late in the stage and although Vingegaard could go with him for the most part, Pogacar now starts the final stage today with a 1:01 lead on Vingegaard.

Stage 8

Stage 8 is the final stage of this year’s Dauphine, and is 134km from Val-d’Arc to Plateau du Mont-Cenis, at 2095m of altitude. The stage is not as hard as yesterday, but there is still a fair bit of climbing:

We join the race with 50km to go. Mathieu Van Der Poel, after stealing maximum points in the intermediate sprint at Saint-Michel de Maurienne, continues out on the front, on his own at the head of the race. He has a 43 second advantage on the 10 man chasing group which contains the likes of Enric Mas, Sepp Kuss, Lenny Martinez and Ivan Romeo. The yellow jersey group are 3 minutes back.

Nearly all of the remaining 50km’s now are uphill. The next climb is the Cote de Saint-Andre, 2.5km at 7.5%, then there is the Cote d’Aussois, 6.3km at 6.1%, and finally the Col du Mont-Cenis, 9.7km at 7%. We can’t see Van Der Poel going solo all the way to the end, he is a very strong rider but doesn’t (normally) have the climbing legs for the mountains.

47km to go, Van Der Poel’s lead is holding at 46 seconds on the chasing group, but the peloton have started to creep at bit closer. They are being pulled along by the ketchup and mustard coloured jerseys of team Uno X. Sepp Kuss is well placed in the chasing group, and we wonder if Visma have placed him there to provide assistance for Vingegaard in case he can escape up the road. Vingegaard started the final stage today just over 1 minute down on Pogacar. We might see a last ditch attempt from Jonas this afternoon.

45km to go, Van Der Poel is over the cat 3 Cote de Saint-Andre, and has extended his lead to 50 seconds now. He is looking incredibly strong on these climbs. The peloton are still at 2:40 behind. It has started to rain and the descent of the Saint-Andre has become treacherous. Van Der Poel just nearly came a cropper on a wet stretch of the road! His cyclocross skills saved him from a nasty fall, as his bike almost slid out from under him. We are at about 1000m elevation now, and in only a few minutes the sky has gone from blue to slate grey.

41km to go, the chasing group seem to be working together quite well, but we are still not sure if Sepp Kuss is going for a stage win today, or conserving his energy to help Jonas later on. In the main peloton, Pogacar has come to the front of the pack for the descent. Vingegaard is right on his wheel and the pair are still being pacd by two Uno X riders, acting like Swiss Guard today protecting cycling’s pontiff Pogi.

40km to go, and now we have three Uno X riders who have almost escaped form the main peloton, they have three passengers, Jonas, Pogi, and UAE teammate Tim Wellens. This six man group have about 15 seconds on the peloton now.

38km to go, Van Der Poel is powering ahead at the front of the race, he has a 1:07 lead now and looks so powerful in his green points classification skin suit. Unless there is a GC battle and attack from behind, Van Der Poel may well hold on and win today.

37km to go, the little six man group has been caught by the peloton, but Uno X are still leading the way. Perhaps UAE have paid them to do the work at the front today? It seems that way anyway. We are on the slopes of the Cote-d’Aussois now. Van Der Poel received a gel form his team car, and on the side of the road is a moto rider with a chalk board, showing him that his current time gap is 1:05. Van Der Poel has his sunglasses tucked into his helmet, a Richard Mille watch with a grey strap to match his Alpecin kit is on his left wrist. VDP has his own brand of Richard Mille, the RM 67-02, the automatic winding, extra flat, made of grade 5 titanium it only weighs 32 grams. Your for about £270,000.

34km to go, and Van Der Poel has less than 2km to go to the top of the Cote d’Aussois now, and his lead is still 1:10. There will be a short descent when he gets to the summit, before the final climb, and that will be the biggest test for Van Der Poel. The Col du Mont-Cenis is a cat 1 climb, and it may be a bit too much for him. We’ve got our fingers crossed for him though.

33km to go, Uno X continue to lead the peloton, and will keep going until the bribe they have been paid by UAE runs out, or until Pogacar gets bored and decides to attack. The time gaps have not changed in almost 20km of racing. They remain 2:40 behind Van Der Poel.

32km to go, and Van Der Poel is at about 1400m elevation now, and we can hear the alpine cow bells rattling from the crowd as he passes through some kind of ski village. There are lots of signs and banner in support of Frenchman Romain Bardet today, as he is riding the very last race of his career. Bardet will retire today after 13 years in the pro peloton. Here is a great photo from the start of the stage, as the riders paid tribute to Bardet:

30km to go, Van Der Poel is descending now. It stopped raining about 15 minutes ago and the rains look mainly damp with some lighter patches which are drying out. Within a few hundred metres the road is going up again. There isn’t much opportunity to rest the legs before the final climb of the day.

27km to go, and Van Der Poel’s gap has shortened a little. He has 55 seconds on the chasing group, and 2:20 on the peloton, still lead of course by Uno X, who we’ve been told are riding to try and salvage 5th place for their team leader Tobias Johannessen, that plus a bribe from UAE (which I have absolutely no evidence of).

23km to go, Uno X really really want Tobias Johannessen to finish in the top 5, so much so that they have ridden for Tadej Pogacar for the last 30km. Thanks to them to gap is starting to come down again, they are 2:10 behind Van Der Poel now. The small group of chasers are still 50 seconds away from Van Der Poel, so perhaps they will be caught on the slops of the final climb.

20km to go, Jonas Vingegaard is right on the wheel of Pogacar, and is now feeding himself from a stash of food in his left pocket. Up ahead Van Der Poel is on the Col Du Mont-Cenis now, and the real alpine climbing has started. He gap has fallen to 37 seconds on the chase group, and the Alpecin team car has been ordered back to the pack. The peloton are under a minute away from Van Der Poel now, and his time at the the front is numbered. Van Der Poel might be a Monuments G.O.A.T, but he is no mountain goat.

18km to go, Van Der Poel is flanked by three motorbikes, and goes on the drops to give it an extra bit of power to hold off being caught for just a few more seconds. A little bit of extra pain which will pay off when it comes to the Tour de France in three weeks time.

17km to go, Van Der Poel starts to ease up a bit and look behind as the chasers are now honing in on him.

16km to go, Van Der Poel has been caught finally, as Ivan Romeo pulls the group along for him Movistar team mate Enric Mas. Van Der Poel slots into the back of the chasing group, relieved with a wind break in the slipstream of Ben Healy.

15km to go, now there are two groups on the road, the complete breakaway group, and the peloton who are 1:25 behind. There is 9km to climbing left, and at the moment Enric Mas is still a bit threat to Tobias Johannessen on GC, which is why Uno X continue to ride on the front of the peloton. Ivan Romeo has just come to a complete standstill on the climb, as his work for Mas is over, and he can give ‘no mas’!

13km to go, and the chasing group is starting to slip up as the stronger riders increase the pace at the front. Van Der Poel eased off a few minutes ago, and now these riders are at the front:

Behind in the peloton UAE have decided that Uno X are not going fast enough, and take over the pace. Nils Politt is pulling at the front now, if Pogacar wins again to day it would be his 100th career win!

12km to go, UAE pull the peloton past Ivan Romeo and Mathieu Van Der Poel, who are both going backwards together. The gap to the breakaway is 58 seconds now. There is 7km left to climb in this year’s Dauphine, Jonas and Tadej are side by side chatting. UAE’s pace seems a bit too high for any attacks at the moment.

11km to go, the riders at the front of the race are attacking each other now. Enric Mas goes up the road with only Ben Healy and Lenny Martinez able to follow. After a few hundred meters Ben Healy slows, and loses the wheel. Now Enric Mas and Lenny Martinez are off together alone.

10km to go, and there is a crash at the back of the peloton, Paul Seixas from Decathlon has gone down and when he gets back on his bike we can see that his handlebars are badly twisted. He continues to ride for now, but needs a bike change desperately!

Tim Wellens leads the peloton now, the last remaining team mate for Tadej Pogacar. Vingegaards still has Ben Tullet and Matteo Jorgenson, and of course Sepp Kuss up the road (although it looks like Kuss is riding for himself today).

9km to go. Enric Mas and Lenny Martinez are 1:13 in front of the peloton now, and have just under 4km left on this final climb of the Dauphine. Mas has done most of the work at the front so far, and Martinez has stayed on his wheel.

8km to go, Tobias Johannessen eased in front of the yellow jersey group and got a little gap, then a minute of so later Remco Evenepoel attacked from the group to bridge up to Johannessen, taking Pogacar an Vingegaard with him. These four riders are together now moving up the mountain, and as Remco leads the way he meets up with Quick Step team mate Valentin Paret-Peintre who is moving back from the breakaway. Vingegaard stillhas Kuss up the road somewhere too.

Enric Mas takes a drink from his bidon, and Lenny Martinez sees his chance to attack, he sprints to the left hand side of the road and powers off up the road. Mas looks a bit too tired to chase, and Martinez now leads the race.

7km to go, Valentin Paret-Peintre pulls at the front of the yellow jersey group, and is doing a great job for Remco, who sits on his wheel.

Lenny Martinez looks very strong at the front of the race now, and Enric Mas is going backwards. We might have just seen the race winning move from Martinez.

6km to go and as Valentin Paret-Peintre gives his last 5% of energy for Remco, Jonas Vingegaard decides it is time for him to attack! He stays in the saddle and increases his pace and suddenly he is bike lengths ahead of Remco, Valentin Paret-Peintre and Johannessen. Pogacar has followed Vingegaard and now the two are up the road together.

Vingegaard has caught up with Sepp Kuss and Enric Mass, Kuss sits on the front of Vingegaard for a few pedal strokes, but soon he and Pogarcar are off again and are now in pursuit of race leader Lenny Martinez.

5km to go, Lenny Martinez is 50 seconds ahead of Vingegaard and Pogacar now. He might still win the stage unless one decides to attack the other. At the moment Pogacar and Vingegaard are riding together at a steady pace.

3km to go, the climbing is done for the three riders at the front of the race. Vingegaard and Pogacar look like a couple of buddies out on a Sunday ride together, Martinez’s lead looks secure. We are at about 2000m elevation now, and going past a huge lake amongst the mountains, the Lac du Mont-Cenis.

2km to go, Martinez is going hell for leather for the stage win, he has 30 seconds on Pogi and Jonas. Behind Remco is trying to limit his time loss, and all the riders in the top 10 on GC are desperately trying to cling on to their positions.

1km to go, and Martinez’s win is safe. He rolls over the finish line with his arms in the air. Behind him Pogacar and Vingegaard come in, Vingegaard accelerates at the last minute to come past Pogacar, and Pogi doesn’t react. He lets Jonas have 2nd place. The pair share a fist bump before they are swarmed by photographers.

Now everyone else starts to come home, the 2025 Dauphine in the bag. Now on to the Tour de France!

Stage results

1. Lenny Martinez

2. Jonas Vingegaard (34 sec)

3. Tadej Pogacar (34 sec)

4. Matteo Jorgenson (40 sec)

5. Remco Evenepoel (40 sec)

6. Enric Mas (45 sec)

7. Florian Lipowitz (47 sec)

8. Tobias Johannessen (47 sec)

9. Ben Healy (1:01)

10. Sepp Kuss (1:01

Lenny Martinez really played it smart with Enric Mas when the pair went away together, he let Mas do most of the work and broke away as Mas was starting to tire. Martinez had enough left in the tank to stay away from Pogacar and Vingegaard until the finish line.

Lets see the final GC results now:

1. Tadej Pogacar

2. Jonas Vingegaard (59 sec)

3. Florian Lipowitz (2:38)

4. Remco Evenepoel (4:21)

5. Tobias Johannessen (6:12)

6. Matteo Jorgenson (7:28)

7. Enric Mas (7:57)

8. Paul Seixas (8:25)

9. Carlos Rodriguez (8:57)

10. Guillaume Martin (10:01)

So, Tadej Pogacar wins the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine, and now sits at 99 career wins, which means we will get to see him take his 100th win at the Tour next month, which should be quite a special moment. Vingegaard shows that he’s still the only rider in the world who can get in touching distance of Pogacar, and I think he will feel positive about his performance this past week. In particular, he had a great TT and let’s not forget that this is his first race since Paris-Nice back in March. I think that we will see a very strong Vingegaard at the start of the Tour in three weeks time.

Next week we will be turning our attention to the Tour de Suisse, so stay tuned as we continue to countdown to the 2025 Tour de France!

Thanks for reading.