Kwiatkowski wins Criterium du Dauphine prologue

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Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) won the Critérium du Dauphiné prologue, finishing the 6.6-kilometre course in a time of 07:25. The Polish national time trial champion edged out Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) by a single second with fellow Team Sky rider Gianni Moscon rounding out the top three.

Kwiatkowski’s win makes him the first race leader, while Moscon heads up the young rider competition. Kwiatkowski has not raced since a disappointing run at the Ardennes Classics at the end of April, and while the win came as a bit of a surprise, he was confident of his good form coming into the race.

"After 40 days without racing of course it is a bit of a surprise but I know how hard I was training to be in a good shape here at the Dauphine and also preparing for the Tour. You have to always come to the start thinking about the win or otherwise you're not able to perform well," Kwiatkowski said before stepping on the podium.

It wasn't all good for Team Sky on the opening day with Geraint Thomas crashing during his run and losing more than 20 seconds. Had he not come down, Thomas would have been close to, if not ahead, of the time set by Kwiatkowski. Despite this, Kwiatkowski says that he and Thomas still share the leadership at Team Sky.

"I know where it happened. It was on a really fast bend and you had to be really careful. I hope that he's alright because I know that G can fight for the win in this race. I hope that he is OK," explained Kwiatkowski.

"Both of us, Geraint and myself have come here to see how the shape is growing before the Tour and it's of course my advantage to win the prologue but the harder stages are at the end of the race. There are some hard mountain finishes and a team time trial. For sure, we're looking forward to race hard but at the moment I just want to enjoy this victory. It was my birthday yesterday and as well this is probably the last time trial in the national jersey. I will try to defend it at the national championships in a couple of weeks but it is always a nice feeling."

How it unfolded

The 2018 Criterium du Dauphine saw the return of the prologue with a short 6.6km run around Valence. The first riders set off just after midday with Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) setting the early benchmark with his time of 7:30. However, his time at the top wouldn't last too long with Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) carrying his good form out of the Giro d'Italia and besting the Belgian by four seconds.

Van Emden enjoyed a long stint in the hotseat as the general classification contenders battled it out amongst themselves. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) put in solid efforts to finish just a second apart in the final standings. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) was one of the strongest GC riders losing just 14 seconds to the eventual winner Kwiatkowski.

It was clear that Kwiatkowski was going strong when he was the only rider to match Alex Edmonson's (Mitchelton-Scott) time at the first intermediate check. While Edmondson slowed slightly in the second half, Kwiatkowski kept his pace to edge out Van Emden by just a second.

Thomas looked like he might be able to beat his teammate to the line, but it all went pear-shaped as he rounded a righthand bend. Thomas' bike went out from under him and he hit the tarmac at speed before sliding into a fence at the side of the road.

He lost a bit of skin and some skinsuit but he was able to get back on the same bike quickly and continue his run. However, the crash put him 21 seconds back and equal on time with Adam Yates and Pello Bilbao. The Welshman will see it as a lost opportunity to gain time on his rivals.

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