Jake Stewart takes career-best victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné
Jake Stewart’s two-word exclamation of joy – one that isn’t for writing here – said it all.
Having come so close to taking his first WorldTour victory in the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné on Sunday, when he was the fastest finisher behind the race’s big four GC contenders, Stewart finally achieved that feat in Mâcon on stage 5 today.
After teammates – notably Krists Neilands and Matîs Louvel – contributed to bringing the day’s plucky breakaway back, Stewart was perfectly placed going into the final kilometer thanks to the help of Guillaume Boivin. So confident was the British rider that he went long in the sprint and produced a dominant finish that nobody got close to matching.
This is the 25-year-old British rider’s second victory for IPT, and comes less than a month after he took his first in the final stage of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque.
Despite the triumph – which was IPT’s 12th win of 2025 – it came on a day of mixed fortunes. Pascal Ackermann, the team’s designated leader for the day, crashed and abandoned the race.
“Yeah, that one feels good,” says Stewart. “But it’s such a shame with Ackermann again, he crashed today, and so it was handed over to me for the final. But it was also a really good day for him, so, I’m gutted for him that he didn’t get to contest the finish. But the boys backed me, the DSs backed me, the team backed me and, yeah, they did an awesome job. I’m just so happy that I could finish it off.”
Referencing his near miss in Sunday’s opening stage, he adds: “I definitely could [feel it coming]. I’ve just been going better and better this season, and obviously I took the win in Dunkerque, which was my first win of the year and the first one in a few years. Then it was so close on the first day here, so to get redemption today, which was like the last opportunity for us, is really good.
“I was following [Jonathan] Milan for the last 3km, then I managed to pick up G, my teammate, in the final heading into 1km to go. I jumped from Milan’s wheel to his wheel and he just moved me into a really good position. Lidl – Trek came up the inside and yeah, it kind of got a bit boxy. I managed to find my way through on the U-bend and picked up Van der Poel’s wheel, and from there I knew I just needed to kick before Milan and get a bit of a rush on him. I managed to kick at 300 before he went and I held it to the line.”
Sports Director René Mandri praised the team – from shifting focus after Ackermann’s crash to backing Stewart in the finale.
“We had the clear plan to cooperate with the other sprinter teams and bring the race into a sprint,” explains Mandri. “We had Ackermann here to prepare for the Tour de France and there was a big chance to get to the sprint with him today. Unfortunately, he crashed and Jake was ready to take on the responsibility of going for the win. He was our lead out guy for Acki, but also plan B from the beginning of the Dauphiné. The guys did everything they needed to get the race going in our favor and G positioned Jake perfectly into the last roundabout. From there on Jake delivered perfectly. The whole team put a great effort into it and I’m really happy for Jake and the whole IPT family.”
As the Dauphiné gets set for three mountain stages to end this year’s race, Stewart’s Kazakh teammate Alexey Lutsenko sits 13th overall. He moved up two places today, but remains 1:24 behind race leader Remco Evenepoel.
