Après un contre-la-montre qui a lancé les hostilités au général et avant une fin de semaine difficile en montagne, cette 5e étape disputée ce jeudi 12 juin entre Saint-Priest et Mâcon (182,6 km) devait offrir aux coureurs un dernier moment de répit sur ce Critérium du Dauphiné... mais ces derniers n'ont finalement pas amusé la galerie tout au long de cette journée loin d'être de tout repos ! A l'issue d'une course très animée et exigeante, notamment dans les quelques ascensions placées après la mi-parcours, le rythme imprimé et la chaleur ont sérieusement entamé les organismes, et le sprint massif annoncé a bien failli ne pas avoir lieu ! Les Français Jordan Labrosse, Benjamin Thomas et Thibault Guernalec ont réalisé un beau numéro en échappée mais ont finalement été repris aux 2 kms. Et alors que tout le monde attendait la 2e victoire de Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), l'Italien a été trop juste dans la dernière ligne droite, et c'est Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech) qui en a profité pour s'offrir son premier bouquet en WorldTour !
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00:00Remco, first of all, how are you? We saw you hit the deck, but wasn't too bad?
00:26No, I came out of the roundabout, wanted to speed up and I don't know, just a small slip or I mean my hands were a bit wet with the humidity or I slipped from my handlebars or I just started pedaling too soon.
00:41I really don't know what happened, but no major injuries, just small bruises, nothing crazy.
00:48Today, what was the objective? To remain safe? Because we saw the stood out quick step riders at the front of the peloton, what was the goal?
00:56Yeah, I mean at some point I think Benjamin Thomas was about two minutes ahead and I didn't realize that he was at one minute fifty.
01:03And yeah, a little truck came to ask for some help and I think it was not a big deal to go and help them a bit to catch the chase back and in the end it was a good decision.
01:15We always had positions in the front and we could stay a bit out of trouble in the technical descents, narrow roads, so in the end we just did our task and got well through.
01:28Ready for some fireworks, the beginning of the fireworks tomorrow in the mountains?
01:32Yeah, yeah, I think I will need to be ready. I think it was a good day to kind of recover from the TT of yesterday, even though the final went pretty, pretty hard with the breakaway of Thomas.
01:43So yeah, I think big three days coming up, a lot of heat as well, so I think it will be a real battle for the next three stages.
