Thibaut Pinot did not wear the yellow and blue jersey on Sunday morning, but started stage 5 of the Criterium du Dauphiné as the de facto race leader after Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma) withdrew from the race due to injury. [He became the third Colombian to win the Dauphiné, following Martín Ramírez in 1984 and Luis Herrera in 1988 and 1991.

Pinot started the 153-km stage with a 10-second lead over countryman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and a 12-second lead over Martinez, but was unable to keep up with the Colombian, who escaped on the breathless final day on the Côte de Domancy with less than 25 km remaining.

Pinot fought back valiantly on the final leg to Megève, but finished 1:02 behind stage winner Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) and, crucially, in seventh place, 32 seconds behind Martinez. He finished second overall, 29 seconds behind Martinez.

"I didn't achieve the goals I set this morning. I'm just disappointed," Pinot said, according to L'Équipe. 'I didn't have the right legs. I didn't do what I needed to do to win. I can only blame myself."

Roglic's withdrawal dramatically changed the course of the race. His Jumbo Visma team ran to split the field rather than control the peloton, and Wout Van Aert and Tom Dumoulin were the early attackers even before the race reached the demanding Col de l'Homme and Col de la Colombière. Pinot admitted that he paid the price for his early efforts before reaching the Côte de Domancy, where Bernard Hinault had attacked in the 1980 World Championships.

"There was an attack right after the start, and from the first climb it didn't take long before there was only the lead group left. I used a lot of bullets at the start and it wasn't enough at the end," Pinot said.

"I had the legs and I thought it wasn't too bad. ...... But when they [Daniel Martinez and Miguel Angel Lopez] attacked at the start of the Côte de Mancy, I couldn't react at all. It took me a while to come back, but it was already too late and I was more than a minute behind. I was angry with myself."

Pinot rode with teammate Sebastian Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) for most of the stage, and in the finale he had the help of countrymen Julien Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic). Despite the help, they were unable to close the gap to Martinez.

"I have rarely finished a stage so tired," Pinot admitted. He had finished fourth in his first race after the season resumed, the Route d'Occitanie.

"In the end, I am in good condition. It's such a hard race and if you're not in good shape, you can't finish second. But something was missing to win the finale and what I took away from tonight's race is that I didn't have the legs to win the Dauphiné."

Pinot is among the favorites to win the Tour de France, which begins in Nice on August 29. Five of his rivals (Egan Bernal, Primos Roglic, Steven Kruijswijk, Emmanuel Buchmann, and Nairo Quintana) have withdrawn from the Dauphiné due to injury.