PARIS — Denmark’s Mads Pedersen won the opening stage of the Tour de France warm up race the Criterium du Dauphine on a foggy 172km run.
The 2019 world champion also takes the yellow jersey after his ninth win so far this season in a week he was named in Denmark’s Olympic Games team.
The Lidl Trek rider edged Sam Bennett and Hugo Page in a mass sprint, one of two flat stages on the eight-day race seen as a fine tuning opportunity ahead of the Tour de France later this month.
“I love racing in France, it’s all so well organised,” said Pedersen according to AFP.
“It’ll be a challenge defending the yellow jersey,” said the 28-year-old rider.
Pedersen explained his main task was to protect team leader Tao Geoghegan Hart, a climb specialist and dark horse for a podium spot or at least some mountain stage wins at the Tour de France.
Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel or Juan Ayuso are more likely to win this Criterium which ends with three blockbuster mountain stages in the Alps next weekend.
Ryan Gibbons of Lidl Trek have Pedersen a fantastic lead-out and once the former world champion was pushed close at the way to the line by Bennett – who elbowed Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) off Pedersen’s wheel – it was a clear victory by the day.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclercm neanwhile, won the Monaco the Monaco Grand Prix for his first Formula 1 victory in nearly two years.
Leclerc was on pole for the third time in four years, but had previously never finished on the podium at his home race. His first win since Austria in July 2022 took his career tally to six, all with Ferrari.
A Monaco victory felt extra special for him, having grown up in a flat overlooking the start-finish line watching cars zooming past below.
“No words can explain that. It was the race that made me want to be a Formula 1 driver one day,” the 26-year-old Leclerc said according to AP.
“Seeing so many of my friends on the balcony, so many people I know. It means a huge amount to me.”
The last 15 laps were the most difficult as the realisation of how much winning would mean dawned on him.
“I must say I was thinking about my dad,” Leclerc said of his late father. “It was a dream of ours for me to race here and win, so it´s unbelievable.”
Championship leader Max Verstappen is bidding for a fourth straight F1 title and saw his lead trimmed to 31 points over second-place Leclerc – 169-138 – with eight races completed.
Verstappen started and finished the race sixth for Red Bull, whose other driver Sergio Perez went out of the race after a big first-lap crash.
The crash also took out Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, and caused it to be interrupted by a red flag for 40 minutes. The drivers were not hurt.
The race restarted on Lap 3 of 78 and the drivers pulled away cleanly but slowly, with Leclerc managing his tires on a track notoriously difficult for overtaking.
Leclerc finished about 8 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and 9 seconds clear of Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. in third.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was fourth and Mercedes driver George Russell held off Verstappen to take fifth place.
Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh, with Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), Alex Albon (Williams) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) completing the top 10. It was the same order as the starting grid, reflecting Monaco´s reputation as the hardest track to overtake in F1.
“The pace at the beginning was incredibly slow,” Piastri said. “But it´s been a great weekend for the team.”
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