Primož Roglič took control of the Critérium du Dauphiné by taking victory on stage six at Le Collet d'Allevard which saw him move into the overall race lead ahead of the final two stages.
The Slovenian appeared to be back to his best since his winter move to the German team from Visma-Lease a Bike, and launched a trademark powerful sprint in the final kilometre of the mountain stage which comfortably dispatched Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) from the back wheel of his Specialized Tarmac.
Roglič’s win was partly down to sterling work from his teammate, Aleksandr Vlasov, who tracked an attack from Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) before Ciccone, Roglič and a select group of other riders, including Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), joined them. Vlasov then set a blistering pace to tee up his team leader and reduced the group to just the two Bora riders and Ciccone.
Once Roglič took flight, there would be no stopping him and the 34-year-old comfortably took his 81st career victory on the steep summit finish. Evenepoel crossed the line in eighth, 42 seconds back on the stage winner, which meant that Roglič now holds a 19 second lead on the Quick-Step man in the general classification.
After being caught up in the huge crash on stage five, Roglič said at the finish that he had hurt his shoulder in the fall and was in discomfort throughout Friday’s stage.
"I’m quite limited with the left shoulder actually," he said. "I couldn’t reach in my [jersey] pocket or anything… the legs were working so about both legs, I cannot complain."
"Finally I won a race, it’s been a while," he added. "The whole team, the guys showed commitment from the very start, from day one. And then chasing on the second stage, it didn’t work out. Yesterday hit us quite hard, all of us, but today again they showed a great performance so a big thanks to them, we can enjoy today."
How it happened
Stage six, the first of three summit finishes to wrap up the French stage race, was a 173 kilometre affair between Hauterives and Le Collet d’Allevard. The riders faced two smaller climbs before reaching the hors categories ascent to the finish.
A six-rider strong breakaway soon got up the road and established an advantage. Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) was present in the move, as was Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Arjen Livyns (Lotto-Dstny), Alessandro Fancellu (Q36.5) and Mason Hollyman (Israel-Premier Tech).
Hollyman, however, later dropped out of the lead group after coming down on the descent from the penultimate climb of the day. Guernalec also came down but was able to re-join the Cort led breakaway.
The breakaway lost half a minute from their lead after being sent the wrong way on the course.
With 11 kilometres to go the leaders began the final climb with an advantage of just under two minutes on the chasing peloton led by Soudal Quick-Step and Josh Tarling of Ineos Grenadiers. A double salvo of attacks from Grégoire in the break pulled him and Cort away from the rest of the group as the peloton drew near.
At seven kilometres to the line, Grégoire was clear of Cort by a handful of seconds with the peloton 55 seconds back. A big shift from Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) on the front of the main field meant that Cort was reeled back in.
Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) then launched an attack straight after the catch was made. De Plus took Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) with him and the duo soon caught the lone Frenchman.
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) then took off in search of the two leaders and Roglič was on his wheel. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) went with them, as did Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers). The chase group soon joined De Plus and Vlasov and the two Bora-Hansgrohe riders soon ramped up the pace.
Vlasov then buried himself with a huge effort which distanced everyone except for Roglič and Ciccone.
Once Roglič then took control there was no looking back, and he launched a brutal sprint for the line which Ciccone couldn’t match. The Slovenian comfortably took the stage win and took over the race lead.
Results
Critérium du Dauphiné 2024, stage six: Hauterives > Le Collet d'Allevard (173km)
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 04:19:59
2. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +3s
3. Aleksandr Vlasov Bora-Hansgrohe, +11s
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +13s
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +17s
6. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers, +22s
7. Carlos Rodriguez (Esp), at same time
8. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +42s
9. Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious, +50s
10. Jai Hindley (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe, +53s
General classification after stage six
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 16:47:44
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +19s
3. Matteo Jorgenson (Usa) Visma-Lease a Bike, +58s
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:01
5. Aleksandr Vlasov Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:32
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:40
7. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:53
8. Oier Lazkano (Esp) Movistar, +2:08
9. Callum Scotson (Aus) Jayco-AIUla, +2:15
10. Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious, 2:31
