It was a case of 50 or so meters too short for Jake Stewart on the first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné with the 25-year-old Brit sprinting to fifth place, winning the bunch sprint, but unable to pull back the late attack.
Stewart and the reduced peloton just caught the back of the five-man leading group as Tadej Pogačar celebrated the win in Montluçon on what was far from a predictable sprint stage with late attacks from the General Classification contenders shaking things up in the final laps of the finish circuit.
“We always knew it would be chaos in the final but I don’t think anyone really expected the GC guys to try and light it up so it was interesting,” explained Stewart. “Lidl – Trek were clearly keen for a sprint finish as well, with Milan, so we collaborated with them all day to control the race. Unfortunately, Acki [Ackermann] had a puncture going into the last lap so he handed it over to me for the sprint, and I’m happy with the result.
“Because the finish was so fast over the top, guys were probably expecting it to come back faster than it did. The guys in front clearly worked well together as well. We could see them around five or 10 seconds ahead as we hit the flamme rouge and Lutsenko did a really good pull for me there which I massively appreciate. It was close on the finish but it was a few meters too short in the end.”
While Stewart made the most of the opportunity in today’s finale, he’s focused on the crucial role he’ll be playing in Ackermann’s sprint train this week.
“I’m here to do the lead out with Acki and that’s the job that I prefer doing. I don’t really like the pressure so much when we start racing and I know it’s all for me for the final. But like today, or like what happened in Dunkirk, if the opportunity arises, then I’ll always take it, but we’re focused on Acki this week.”