Party for Intermarché-Circus-Wanty in the Dauphiné, because Georg Zimmermann has shown himself to be the best escapee in the stage to Crest-Voland. In an exciting final he settled with Mathieu Burgaudeau. There was no wind in the favorites, except for a small jab from leader Jonas Vingegaard.
The sixth stage in a nutshell:
- Winner of the day: Georg Zimmermann has the most beautiful victory of his career. The German was the best escapee and beat Burgaudeau in an uphill sprint.
- Loser of the day: Donavan Grondin started this morning in the polka dot jersey, but the Frenchman soon got off course due to thigh problems.
- Morning: Saturday we start the heavy final weekend. 4000 vertical meters in barely 100 kilometers. The decision will most likely fall on the Col de la Croix de Fer.
Course from the first meter
Pulling, dragging, sprinting and toiling. It was an extremely difficult task to slip into the flight of the day today. After 40 kilometers a strong group (including Greg Van Avermaet) seemed to have left, but Jonas Vingegaard and co saw a few dangerous customers and called the group back to order.
An updated version of that leading group with less threatening names for the leader was finally released after 60 kilometers of racing.
With riders like Jonathan Castroviejo, Vuillermoz and Georg Zimmermann, there were plenty of riders who could handle this stage on paper, but the group was not given much leeway.
DSM, Uno-X and Trek-Segafredo, teams without delegates in the leading group, wanted to play a significant role in the final and forced a merger.
Read more below the photo.
Zimmermann triumphs
A fusion that Zimmermann, Castroviejo and Mathieu Burgaudeau did not like.
The three accelerated and dived into the end of the stage. There were three more categorized climbs waiting for the riders.
The trio worked well together and with the tough final weekend in mind, the GC guys were not looking forward to a grueling chase race.
Georg Zimmermann started early on the spicy two-stage rocket. The German seemed to be the best uphill, his two companions had to stay put. A solo to the finish?
Not either, because Burgaudeau showed up in the final kilometer and took another option on the victory.
But in the sprint it soon turned out that the Frenchman was completely on his gums.
Zimmermann sprinted convincingly to victory and in this way also secured the first WorldTour victory of the season for his team.
Among the favourites, Vingegaard pushed hard one more time on the final climb, but his rivals were unable to release. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the differences will undoubtedly become larger.
“Given everything and the puzzle pieces fell together”
“I still can’t believe it,” says Zimmermann. “I felt good yesterday, but I couldn’t and today I tried again. I just gave everything and the puzzle pieces fell together.”
“I already knew this climb from the Tour of the Future five years ago and it feels great to win here today in the Dauphiné. Did I doubt whether I was going to win? I am a positive person, I always hope that I can win .”
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