Critérium du Dauphiné stage 7: Primož Roglič wins again to extend overall lead

Primož Roglič and his Bora-Hansgrohe team delivered their second masterclass in two days to win stage 7 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, with the Slovenian taking the victory and extending his overall race lead to over a minute.

Roglič attacked with around 250m to go to the summit Samoëns 1600 and finished just ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek).

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was dropped for the second consecutive day in the mountains and lost over a minute to leave his overall hopes all but over. The result moved the Belgian from second overall at 19 seconds at the start of the day to off the podium with just one more day in the mountains remaining.

Roglič now leads Jorgenson by just over a minute with surprise package, Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), in third overall, and Evenepoel down in sixth.

"It probably seems easier than actually it was. It was a hard day, huh?" Roglič said after the stage.

"But the guys did an amazing job, having everything under control from the very start until the finish, so I’m glad I had the legs in the end to finish it off."

"At the end, why not?" he answered when asked about the decision to go for the stage win, not just take time. "There was an opportunity, and because the guys did an incredible job. We all still feel it after the crash and these hard days in the legs, nobody feels better, but with the commitment and the work they put in, [it’s] another day that we can celebrate and be happy."

Read more: Critérium du Dauphiné stage 6: Primož Roglič wins summit finish as Remco Evenepoel falters

Much of Roglič’s and his team's success came down to the performance of Aleksandr Vlasov. The Russian was imperious on the final climb, reeling in the day’s main break and denying Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) a famous win before setting a relentless pace that nullified all but two short attacks from Roglič’s main rivals.

Only Ciccone and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) could put any distance between themselves and the other GC contenders in the final 10km climb to the finish but on each occasion, Vlasov almost effortlessly reeled them in. The Russian’s pace settling was also too much for the likes of Evenepoel, with the Belgian forced to ride at his own pace as the yellow jersey group disappeared up the road with around 7km still to race.

Vlasov was still at the front of the reduced 10-rider group coming inside the final 800m before a sharp dig from Buitrago distanced Roglič’s final teammate.

Roglič’s experience in such a power-based finish proved vital, however, as he waited for Buitrago to ease, and then used a late attack from Oier Lazkano (Movistar) to springboard himself to victory. Jorgenson was quickly able to follow the race leader but ran out of steam as the line approached.

All out racing

The start of stage 7 saw the peloton climbing pretty much straight out of the gate, as the road pointed up towards the Col des Saisies, which peaked out with 33km to go. Only 9.5km of climbing was categorised, but the riders were going uphill from the neutral zone, and as a result it was an attacking and hectic open to the stage.

After a few revolving attempts, a breakaway did seem to stick after around 15km, containing Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) and Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan). Hitting the categorised part of the climb, they had 50 seconds on three chasers and just over a minute on the peloton.

Over the top of the climb, a handful of chasers joined the break, making it 10 upfront as Koen Bouwman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Warren Barguil (dsm-firmenich PostNL) joined the leaders. As a bigger group, they quickly increased their advantage over the bunch to three and a half minutes with 50km of racing completed.

The break’s momentum continued for much of the stage with the leaders moving their advantage out to over four minutes as they passed several unclassified climbs, and then the first cat summit of the Côte d'Araches.

At the foot of the penultimate climb, the 13.9km Col de la Ramaz, the break held their four-minute gap but the group quickly splintered in the wet conditions with Martin one of the early casualties as Marc Soler – the virtual leader on the road – set the pace at the head of the race.

Soler and Barguil went away with 46km to go before the Spaniard forged clear on his own with still 7km to go on the climb. The UAE Team Emirates rider was clearly on a mission, putting over two minutes into the remnants of the chase and even extending his gap to the yellow jersey group to over five minutes in the valley ahead of the final haul to the line.

At the foot of the Samoëns climb, Soler was still in the groove but the pitches that stretched to over 10% quickly began to sap his strength as Bora-Hansgrohe turned the screw at the front of the peloton.

Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) were among the early casualties as the German team upped the ante but it was a major shock to see Evenepoel drift to the back of the group with 7km still to go.

A short but important attack from Ciccone reduced the front group to around a dozen riders and left Roglič with just Vlasov for help but the Russian’s tempo was too fast for the majority of the group. With 2.2km to go, Soler was finally put out of his misery before Roglič capped an excellent day for the Bora squad to leave him just one day away from taking his first stage race victory since joining his new team.

For everything you need to know about the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné, from the history of the race, to this year's route and start list, be sure to check out our dedicated race hub.