In the first stage of the Dauphiné, yesterday Jonas Vingegaard did what no one would have ever expected and, as an extraordinary climber, transformed himself into an incredible sprinter.

The Dane in the sprint beat Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel, and only Tadej Pogacar was stronger than him.

"It's the first time I've finished second in a group sprint, so it's fantastic" – Vingegaard said after the finish line – "How do I feel after this sprint? To cross it off my to-do list, I should have won. I should have made it. But after this sprint, it's possible that next year I might beat Mads Pedersen... I'm joking of course, I wouldn't be able to do that!"

For the first time, we saw a different Vingegaard, much more aware of his possibilities and with the desire to take risks and challenge himself, and the eagerness he had yesterday to sprint could be seen as an unprecedented episode of the new Dane.

Probably, he didn't realize that the small group with Pogacar, Evenepoel, van der Poel, and Santiago Buitrago was the least suitable for heading towards the finish line, but in the end, the Visma Lease a Bike rider was a great protagonist and only Pogacar did better. Between the two in the general classification, there are now only 4 seconds.

"When I saw the situation I was in, I thought it was terrible. Because all the others in the group could sprint better than me. So I thought I would be the one destined to lose in such a finale. Therefore, I'm very happy to have finished second. I chose to attack following my intuition. I felt good on the bike and I felt that the others were suffering on the climb. So I thought: why not just try? The legs were there. That's why I tried to attack."

Today there will be a stage that on paper should not interest the general classification riders. The finish will be in Issoire after a race of 204.6 kilometers. The stage on Tuesday might also not be appealing for the team leaders, while there is great anticipation for Wednesday, when there will be the individual time trial in Saint-Peray, 17.4 kilometers long.