Pogacar to lead Team Emirates charge at Dauphine

The Criterium du Dauphine (Aug. 12 – 16) has traditionally been seen as the last big stage race ahead of the Tour de France, where riders look to test their form and asses their opposition.

This year’s 72nd edition - which finishes two weeks before the Tour - has been reduced from eight to five days, but still packs a punch with three mountain, one medium mountain and one hilly stage squeezed into 795kms of testing terrain.

Tadej Pogacar will lead a seven man squad with support in the high ground from Davide Formolo, David de la Cruz and his fellow Slovenian Jan Polanc. With 27 climbs, and challenging uphill finishes at the end of each stage, this is a tour that will favour Pogacar’s characteristics and riding style.

The Norwegian trio of Vegard Stake Laengen, Sven Erik Bystrom and Alexander Kristoff will round out the team.

Pogacar said: “I’m coming into the Dauphine with some good race miles after my first time at Strade Bianche and Milano-Sanremo. Both races were really unique and an amazing experience. I was happy with my condition also. Some of the stages here at the Dauphiné could suit me, but the principal aim is building up for the Tour de France. Formolo is also really going well at the moment so we will try to do something between us here.”

The team will be guided by an experienced group of Sports Directors including Allan Peiper, Andrej Hauptaman and John Wakefield.

Evenepoel wins: Fabio Jakobsen’s fellow Deceuninck-Quick Step rider Remco Evenepoel won the Tour of Poland on Sunday as team-mate Davide Ballerini clinched the fifth and final stage in Krakow.

Jakobsen was injured in a horrifying crash on the race’s opening day earlier in the week and awoke from a medically-induced coma on Thursday.

“For the team the hardest part of this race was the situation with Fabio,” Evenepoel said after his ninth victory of the season.

“We’ve been through a lot of emotions this week and if you see how we finish it off - two stage wins in a row and we take the GC home - I think that we can only say that we have been dominating this race,” he added.

Belgian Evenepoel, 20, was 1 minutes 52 seconds ahead of Dane Jakob Fuglsang in second with Briton Simon Yates in third after five days of racing in the 77th edition of the event.

Team Ineos’ Richard Carapaz pulled out after a crash on Saturday despite leading the overall standings before Evenepoel grabbed the yellow jersey with a 51km solo win on stage four.

Italian Ballerini powered to victory in a bunched sprint by pipping Bora Hansgrohe’s Pascal Ackermann in second and Team Sunweb’s Alberto Dainese after 188 kilometres which finished with three laps in the southern city.