Another win for Wout van Aert at the Criterium du Dauphine, but bunch leaves it late as Belgian wins Stage 5

A nailbiting finale in Chaintre ended with hearts broken in the breakaway, as a marauding peloton denied them mere metres from the line. Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) won by half a wheel from Jordi Meeus (Bora Hansgrohe) and Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) in third, to make it two wins and four top two finishes from five stages so far. Ten bonus seconds took the Belgian rider’s lead in the general classification to over a minute from Italian Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep AlphaVinyl).

That it would finish to form was far from a foregone conclusion. Ad/> The 162km Stage 5 parcours had brought the closest the Dauphine ever does to the possibility of pure sprint finish. Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange Jayco) was the rider most hopeful that a large group might make it to the line.

/> Critérium du DauphinéHighlights of Stage 5 of Criterium du Dauphine as Van Aert holds off Meeus to win sprintAN HOUR AGO Between Groenewegen and glory was not only the teams of Van Aert and Hayter, but a highly motivated breakaway quartet. They had done well to get away at all, as several early efforts to escape were swiftly snuffed out. First there were three, Fabien Doubey (TotalEnergies), Jan Bakelants (Intermarche — Wanty — Gobert Matéeiaux) and the familiar face of Sebastian Schonberger (B&B Hotels — KTM), before Schonberger’s team-mate Pierre Rolland, in the company of Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) made another late dash to join the party.

An hour into the stage and the riders at the front had covered 46km, for a lead nudging three minutes. Rolland took the full five points on the category 2, Cote de Dun, taking his lead in the King of the Mountains competition to ten points over Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies). With only one category four