Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) won the third stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné (WorldTour) which started from Celles-sur-Durolle to the Côte des Estables over a distance of 181.7 km on Tuesday. The Canadian beat the French Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) in the sprint at the top as well as the Briton Lukas Nerurkar (EF Education-EasyPost).
With this victory, Gee took back the yellow jersey from Dane Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility), who moved back to second, three seconds behind.
Laurens De Plus (INEOS Grenadiers) is the first Belgian in the stage classification with a 14th place while Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) finishes in 26th place in the leading group.
The breakaway led by the Dane Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla), the Australian Harry Sweeny (EF Education – EasyPost) and the Frenchman Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was caught by the peloton three kilometers from the arrival.
800m from the finish, Latvian Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) attacked before seeing his teammate Derek Gee chase Romain Grégoire. The Canadian finally won at the finish line.
Gee signs the first victory of his season and his professional career while his best result in 2024 remains 17th place during the first stage of the Dauphiné.
On Wednesday, the fourth stage will be the scene of the only time trial of this 76th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The runners will leave from Saint-Germain-Laval to finish in Neulise after 34.4 km on a course which includes two light climbs: Pinay (2.5 km at 3.6% average) and Saint-Marcel-De-Félines (2.3 km at 3.1% average).
