Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) has won stage 7 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné with a typical late surge on the mountain top finish of Samoëns 1600.
Roglič won his second stage of the week and extended his lead in the general classification and will hold a healthy lead heading into the final stage as Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step) fell down the standings on a tough day in the Alps.
Matteo Jorgensen (Visma-Lease a Bike) was closest to the Slovenian, finishing second, while Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) was third.
The American also climbed up to second on the overall standings and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) moved onto the podium in third.
The difficulty of more the 4,000 metres of elevation over the day's 155 kilometres was magnified by the inclement weather that the race has been used to all week. Roglič was pleased to make it through the stage and to be able to reward his team-mates for their work.
"It was a hard day, but guys did an amazing job having everything under control from the very start till the finish, so I'm glad I had the legs at the end to finish top," Roglič said whilst warming down after the stage.
"The guys did an incredible job," he continued. "We all still feel it, after the crash and putting now these hard days in the legs. I mean, for sure nobody feels better, but with the commitment and work they put in [it's] another day that we can celebrate and be happy."
With one day to go, Roglič looks set to win the Dauphiné for the second time. He's keeping calm, as ever, and is focused on the job at hand with a final stage in the mountains.
"First things first, let's try to finish tomorrow also on two wheels. We do our best and we'll see what happens then," he concluded.
How it happened
The day began in Albertville with the reverberations of stage 5's horror crash still ringing through the race. Eight riders had abandoned before the first pedal was pushed, including Lidl-Trek's British Tour de France hope Tao Geoghegan Hart.
The early attacks began on the on the first big climb of the day, the Col des Sais, with dozens of riders seemingly keen to make the move of the day.
As things eventually settled there were eleven riders who made up the breakaway: Koen Bouwman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Dorian Godon & Nicolas Prodhomme (both Decathlon-AG2R), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Warren Barguil (dsm-firmenich-Post NL), Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan) and Mark Donovan (Q36.5).
Once formed, that group largely stayed together up until the penultimate climb, the 14 kilometre Col de la Ramaz, when Marc Soler took off. He was initially pursued by Fortunato ahead of the rest of the chasers. Soler's lead peaked around the the 5:30 mark towards the top of the Ramaz, meaning that for a while Soler was in the virtual lead of the race having started the day 3:45 down on Primož Roglič.
The risk to Roglič's jersey was rubbed out on the valley road before the final climb up to Samoëns 1600. Soler's lead was close to four minutes as he reached the foot of the savage nine kilometre ascent.
Bora-Hansgrohe set a firm pace on the front of the favourites' group at the bottom of the climb. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step), sitting second on GC coming into the day, was the first big name to to be distanced by the group with seven kilometres to go. The world time trial champion measured his effort well and would go on to lose 1:46, slipping to sixth overall. Remarkably 19-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider Josh Tarling would out-last Evenepoel, riding in support of team-mate Carlos Rodriguez.
As he entered the second half of the climb, Soler's lead began to melt away. The Spaniard appeared to be labouring, contrasting Alexandr Vlasov who looked light on the pedals as he guided Roglič and the rest of the group. With three kilometres to go, Soler's advantage slipped to less than a minute. A kilometre later Soler seemed to slow to walking pace and the catch was made.
Vlasov continued to set an infernal pace under the flamme rouge, meaning that no one was able to launch an early attack. Santiago Buitrago was the first to go with 600 metres left, Oier Lazkano and then the rest of the group was on his wheel. Lazkano attacked with 300 left and whittled the group down before Roglič launched his sprint.
Jorgensen was the only rider able to go with Roglič, but a second burst of speed in the closing moments sealed a second stage win of the week for the Bora-Hansgrohe rider.
Roglič now heads into the final stage of the race with just over a minute's advantage on Jorgensen and looks good to hold onto that lead to claim his second Critérium du Dauphiné crown.
Results
Critérium du Dauphiné 2024, stage seven: Alberville > Samoëns 1600 (155km)
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 04:29:16
2. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2s
4. Oier Lazkano (Esp) Movistar, at same time
5. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, at same time
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Esp), +8s
7. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +14s
8. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers, at same time
9. Aleksandr Vlasov Bora-Hansgrohe, at same time
10. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal - Quick-Step, +33s
General Classification after stage seven
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 21:16:50
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Usa) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:02
3. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:13
4. Aleksandr Vlasov Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:56
5. Carlos Rodriguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:58
6. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:15
7. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:17
8. Oier Lazkano (Esp) Movistar, +2:20
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:54
10. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal - Quick-Step, +3:51
