Romeo Beats van der Poel | Cycling News
Iván Romeo Wins Critérium du Dauphiné Stage with Late Breakaway
Updated June 10, 2025
Spanish cyclist Iván Romeo, a former U23 time trial champion, seized victory on stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Movistar rider launched a late breakaway, covering the final 6 kilometers to secure both the stage win and the leader’s jersey.
Romeo’s attack denied Mathieu van der Poel,the monument champion,a chance at victory on the challenging,hilly course in southeast France. Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek,who started the day in the yellow jersey,struggled and relinquished his lead to the 21-year-old Romeo.
Romeo now leads the race by 17 seconds over Louis Barré of Intermarché-Wanty.Tour de France contenders Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogačar, and Jonas Vingegaard finished together in the peloton, more than a minute behind romeo.
Team celebration after solo victory for @ivanromeo_03 ☝️
Team celebration after a solo win by @ivanromeo_03 ☝️#Dauphiné pic.twitter.com/Ex880hrNv6
— Critérium du Dauphiné (@dauphine) June 10, 2025
Eddie Dunbar of jayco-AlUla and Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe gained significant ground in the general classification after joining the breakaway with van der Poel and Romeo.
“To be honest, I don’t know at the moment, I don’t believe it,” Romeo said after the stage. “I don’t know what to say, honestly, I think it was one of the toughest days of my life so far.”
Romeo, considered a promising talent as joining Movistar in 2023, secured his first major WorldTour victory. His previous notable achievement was a gold medal at the 2024 U23 time trial world championships.
Romeo explained his strategy: “I told the team I needed to take the risk and not be very active in the break. So I waited to the last moment, and I know that if they gave me some seconds, I can make it.”
Mathieu van der Poel Post-Stage 3 #Dauphiné:
️”That was one of my hardest days on the bike ever.”
TNT Sports pic.twitter.com/Ud3Aynuwns
— Domestic (@diestic___) June 10, 2025
Van der Poel acknowledged the difficulty of the stage. “It was one of the hardest days I ever had on the bike,” he said. ”I’m super happy with the shape, but it’s super hard to win in this position. Everything needs to be 100 percent correct.”
Van der Poel added, “A lot of riders were looking at me, but of course, you have to look at others if you want to win the stage. It’s not up to me to respond to every single attack. That was the gamble – I responded to several but not all of them.”
Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 3 Results:
Earlier in the stage, Romain Bardet received a warm farewell in his hometown of brioude as he nears retirement. Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar also contested an early intermediate sprint, with Pogačar taking bonus seconds.
What’s next
Stage 4 features a 17-kilometer time trial, which is expected to considerably impact the general classification and provide insights into the form of Tour de France hopefuls. The course includes a challenging 1.8-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 8.5 percent.