CRITÉRIUM DU DAUPHINÉ
Stage 8 Champéry, France
This time last year, the peloton wound its way down one of the hairpin bends of the Pas de Morgins during the final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Having already climbed up through the Abondance Valley in the French Alps to the top of the third category climb at 1,369m, the riders temporarily descended into Switzerland on the other side, as the climb straddles the border between the two countries. Stage 8 was by far the shortest of the race, at just 113.5km long, but was packed with no fewer than seven climbs on the roads northeast of Cluses to Champéry. Dylan van Baarle of Team Ineos won the stage after being one of two survivors from the day’s big break, alongside Jack Haig. The 13-man move also contained Julian Alaphilippe and Sepp Kuss, among others, but no one could hang onto Haig and Van Baarle once they attacked on the penultimate Côte des Rives climb. Further down the road, Astana controlled the race for their leader, Jakob Fuglsang, who was already in the yellow jersey and went on to win the Dauphiné for the second time since 2017.