Primoz Roglic strikes again in Dauphine, Remco Evenepoel has to give up early on steep final climb

After sixth place, Primoz Roglic also won the seventh stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. In the grueling mountain stage up to the Samoëns 1600, he appeared to have the fastest legs of the favourites. Remco Evenepoel had to leave early on the final climb.

On the penultimate stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, the climbers were able to enjoy themselves again. From the start, the riders immediately headed to the Col des Saisies (9.4 km at 6.6%), followed by the Côte d’Arâches (6.1 km at 7.1%) and after 118 km the riders crossed the top of the Col de la Ramaz. (13.9 km, 7.1%). Finally, the final ascent to the winter sports village of Samoëns 1600 awaited, good for ten kilometers of 9.3% climbing.

Several dropouts lead the pack with Bowman
Tao Geoghegan Heart didn’t have to climb all these mountains. He did not initially feature in Albertville, just like Hugo Tomer (Cofidis), Clement Rousseau (Groupama-FDJ) and Logan Currie (Lotto Destiny). Immediately after the restart, Ilan van Wilder also appeared to suffer a lot of damage from a crash on stage five. Later, Ivan Ramiro Sosa (Movistar), Ivan Garcia (Movistar), Christian Rodriguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Nelson Pauwels (EF Education-EasyPost) also resigned.

Meanwhile, he was at the front of the race. In time, a pioneer group of eleven riders was formed, who rode together to the foot of the Col de la Ramaz past the Col des Saisies and the Côte d’Arâches. These were Quinn Bowman (Visma | Not a Bike), Marc Soler (UAE), Dorian Godon, Nicolas Prudhomme (Decathlon AG2R), Kevin Netts (Groupama-FDJ), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Warren Bargiel (DS M – Firmenich). PostNL), Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Kazakhstan) and Mark Donovan (Q36.5), who managed to join after a long chase.

Bowman was in the leading group – Photo: Cor Vos

Soler goes alone, and Evenpoel passes
The eleven began the penultimate climb approximately four minutes apart. BORA-hansgrohe, which was controlling the peloton, did not feel the need to close the gap immediately, and even allowed the attackers to drive a little further. Barjeel saw his chance and tried to throw his fleeing colleagues into the sea. Rafferty, Fortunato and Soler responded, after which the latter dealt him another blow. The Spaniard from the United Arab Emirates ended up alone in the lead. Bowman and Prudhomme then joined Barguil and his teammates again, but the five were already more than a minute and a half behind Soler at the top.

At the foot of the final climb, Soler extended his lead to more than two minutes. The peloton followed more than four minutes later. Pavel Sivakov returned to the peloton after a puncture and a long chase, but the UAE rider had to make an early adjustment on the steep climb to the Samoëns 1600. This also applies to… Remco Evenepoel. Second place in the classification fell more than seven kilometers from the summit, at a time when there were still about twenty riders in the peloton. The world time trial champion continued driving at his own pace.

Hindley and Vlasov work for Roglic – Photo: Cor Vos

Roglic wins again
Giulio Ciccone quickened his pace six kilometers from the summit. At Bora-Hansgrohe, Alexander Vlasov took over from Jay Hindley and the Russian pulled one back on the Italian striker. Then Vlasov continued driving. The high pace meant that Soller began to lose his feathers quickly. The Spaniard gave everything, but it was over. Two kilometers from the finish he was caught by a group of candidates led by the tireless Vlasov.

Vlasov remained in the lead until six hundred meters from the finish. He only gave up when Santiago Buitrago accelerated. Oier Lazkano has jumped into the wheel and Ciccone, Roglic, Mateo Jorgenson, Derek Gee and Carlos Rodríguez could follow. He attacked Lazcano so much that he could have done more than just follow through. However, opening a gap was not an option, so Roglic began his sprint. Jorgenson tried to remount the Slovenian, but that was no longer possible. Roglic won for the second day in a row and extended his lead in the general classification.

Evenepoel drops to sixth place
Evenepoel would eventually finish thirteenth at 1 minute and 46 seconds. He fell to sixth place in the general classification.