Slovenia's cycling superstar dominates Dauphine ahead of Tour de France

Tadej Pogačar has fired a serious warning shot ahead of the Tour de France by crushing the competition at the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Slovenian superstar left no doubt about his form, grabbing three stage wins and holding off Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard to claim his first-ever Dauphiné title.

The UAE Team Emirates rider finished the 1,200-km, eight-stage race 59 seconds ahead of Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the general classification after losing only a couple of seconds in the final mountain stage, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The last stage was won by Lenny Martinez of France (Bahrain-Victorious).

"A really amazing week. Once again today great job by the team and they've managed to defend the jersey. We can go home happy to prepare for the Tour," he said.

This is the first win for Pogačar, the world's best-ranked cyclist, in the race that is part of the UCI World Tour calendar and that counts as one of the foremost races in the lead-up to the Tour de France.

The Slovenian all but secured the overall win by taking advantage of one minute and one second after winning Sunday's 131.6-km mountain stage from Grand-Aigueblanche to Valmeinier. He also won the first and fifth sixth stages of the race.

He previously only competed in the Criterium du Dauphine once, finishing fourth overall in 2020, the year when he won his first Tour de France.

"I was here in 2020 at the shortened Dauphiné because of COVID times. It was one of the hardest five days I ever did in my career, and since then, I didn't return. Finally, I did it and I'm super happy and proud," Pogačar said.

Pogačar has become the third Slovenian winner of the race, after Janez Brajkovič won it in 2010, and after Primož Roglič triumphed two times, in 2022 and last year.

Today's victory is the 18th victory in multi-day races in Pogačar's career and the second this year, after he won the UAE Tour in February.

His next race is the Tour de France, which starts on 5 July, where he will be looking for his fourth overall victory after winning the general classification in 2020, 2021 and 2024.

"We go to altitude camp at Isola 2000, then three days home, and to the Tour. There's basically not too much to do. Rest after this great week, do some extra work on the time trial, maybe, and then I'm ready," he said.