The Belgian professional cyclist Wout van Aert is heading towards overall victory in the Dauphine.
The 27-year-old from Team Jumbo-Visma reached the finish line with the peloton on the demanding sixth stage over 196.4 km from Rives to Gap and held the lead in the overall standings over his closest pursuer Mattia Cattaneo (Italy/Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl ) and his Slovenian teammate Primoz Roglic consistently at just over a minute.
Frenchman Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) secured the day’s victory in the sprint of a group of six in front of his prominent compatriots Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM) and Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic). The best-placed German was Nils Politt from Cologne in 56th place, the professional from the Bora-hansgrohe team crossed the finish line at the same time as van Aert.
A real test awaits the riders on Saturday: the penultimate stage “only” covers 134.8 km from Saint-Chaffrey to Vaujany, but there are two mountains of the highest category to overcome.
Many top riders use the hilly Dauphine over a total of eight stages as a test run for the Tour de France, which begins on July 1 in Copenhagen.