The six leading men kept enough of the lead over the peloton to play for victory in the sprint. Valentin Ferron started from afar, his breakaway companions did not react. The 24-year-old runner held on and went for the second victory of his career. He offers his TotalEnergies team a second success in this Criterium following the victory of Alexis Vuillermoz in the second stage.
His compatriots Pierre Rolland and Warren Barguil were second and third. The peloton arrived at 32 seconds, with Jordi Meeus (Bora-hansgrohe) and Wout van Aert respectively 11th and 12th.
Overall, Van Aert keeps 1:03 on Matteo Cattaneo (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and 1:06 on his teammate Primoz Roglic.
The Critérium du Dauphiné will enter its decisive chapter with two mountain stages to end this 74th edition. Saturday, from Saint-Chaffrey, two out-of-category passes, the Galibier and the Croix de Fer await the runners before the final ascent to Vaujany (2nd category, 5.7 km at 7.2%)
