Critérium du Dauphiné stage 8: Carlos Rodríguez wins final stage as Primož Roglič narrowly seals overall

After putting in the acceleration that broke apart the GC group on the Col des Glières, Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) won stage 8 of the Critérium du Dauphiné ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike).

In what was almost some big final-day drama, race leader Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) was unable to follow the move containing Rodríguez, Jorgenson and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) but managed to just about limit his losses and hold on to win the overall by eight seconds over Jorgenson.

Despite his stage win, Rodríguez's efforts were not enough to move onto the final podium, with Gee holding on to third in what has been a revelatory week of stage racing for the Canadian.

With 6km to go, after his Ineos team had worked hard all day, Rodríguez set off a move that put Roglič in trouble, with only Jorgenson, Gee, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and teammate Laurens De Plus able to follow, as Roglič quickly dropped to 20, then 30, seconds behind.

Five soon became three as Rodríguez, Jorgenson and Gee pushed on alone, and it was then Jorgenson – aiming at stealing yellow – who attacked again in the final 2km to try and take as much time as possible on Roglič. The American yielded the stage win to the Spaniard on the line, focusing entirely on time, but in the end it was not quite enough, as a steady, no-panic ride from Roglič saw him finish just within the margin that he needed to win.

“Looking to myself, [it is] quite crazy to be able to win the Dauphiné, with everything that happened in between, so beautiful,” Roglič said at the finish.

“We were hearing all the gaps, and I also saw [the leaders] more or less all the time, and it was tight, but it went to my advantage, so perfect.”

“Definitely, for all the last three days,” he answered when asked if he had been suffering. “It’s definitely something that we needed with the team. It’s crazy to be able to win the Dauphiné.”

A breakaway of 11 riders had been away for most of the day, but for the third stage running it was the GC riders who contested the stage win, reeling in the last members of the break on the early slopes of the final climb.

A strong group but no luck for the breakaway

Much like stage 7, stage 8 again started with climbing straight out of the gate, and so the attacks came thick and fast early on as the break tried to establish itself. The peloton took on the 7.1km Col de la Forclaz in the first 15km of racing, making for a very hard start, and perfect terrain for attacks.

The breakaway finally established itself over the top of the Forclaz climb, with two groups coming together on the descent to make an 11-man move, containing: Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Marc Soler, Tim Wellens (both UAE Team Emirates), Bruno Armirail, Nicolas Prodhomme (both Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto Dstny), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) and Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan).

A strong group with two nearly-winners already in this race, Soler and Armirail, plus KoM hopeful Fortunato, the break soon built up a lead of two and a half minutes over the peloton, which Bora-Hansgrohe led to keep things in check. Fortunato took the points over the first two categorised climbs, which was enough to move him into the virtual KoM lead, ahead of Roglič.

The situation remained stable through the first intermediate and sprint and into the flatter, middle part of the stage, with the break working well to hold onto a solid lead that rose to four minutes at points, before two category-1 climbs approached in the final 70km.

The first of these climbs, Le Salève, saw the first cracks begin to show. Fortunato was the first to be dropped from the break on the early slopes of the climb, ending his chances of adding to his KoM points haul, with Prodhomme the next to go. In the peloton, a similar split was happening, with the first riders starting to be distanced in the first half of the penultimate climb as Ineos Grenadiers started to pace in support of fifth-placed Rodríguez.

Soler won the maximum points over the top of Le Salève, as the break’s gap was down to under two minutes with the peloton starting to wind things up with 50km to go. On the flat between the Salève and the final climb, things settled a bit as Ineos eased off and the break pushed on to try to preserve their lead.

Heading into the final 25km, the GC group had already been significantly whittled down with the Col des Glières approaching. The gap was down to under a minute and a half with 20km to go and it began to look like the break’s chances of staying away were over, despite their best efforts and strength. In the peloton, Mads Pedersen was putting in a big effort for Lidl-Trek, with Bora-Hansgrohe just behind him.

GC action kicks off on the final climb

Starting the 9.3km Col des Glières, the break were just 30 seconds ahead of the peloton, and it was then that the attacks started. Quinn and Martin managed to open up a gap as the remainder of the group began to fall away. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) was the first from the GC group to start to attack, launching a move with 8.2km to go and quickly going past most of the breakaway, and soon overtaking Quinn and Martin. He was only 14 seconds ahead of the GC group, however, with Bora keen to keep the Italian within reach.

With 6km to go, Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) put in an acceleration which broke apart the GC group, dragging a group of just seven riders up to Ciccone and dispatching Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe). This set up an attack from Rodríguez, who pushed on with just over 5km to go, taking Jorgenson and Gee with him and putting Roglič in a bit of trouble with the yellow jersey not quite following the move.

A group of five – Rodríguez, De Plus, Jorgenson, Gee and Buitrago – quickly opened up a gap of 13 seconds on Roglič, who was chasing on his own with only Ciccone with him. Five quickly became three as Gee pushed on, distancing De Plus and Buitrago in the process. With 3km to go Roglič’s deficit had grown out to almost 30 seconds, with the three in front trying to capitalise on the situation as much as possible.

With 1.7km to go, Jorgenson put in the next dig, which distanced Gee but took Rodríguez with him. The pair had 40 seconds on Roglič going into the final kilometre, which would prove crucial in the Slovenian’s fight for the overall. Fortunately for him, the road flattened out towards the line, and he was able to hold the gap to the leaders, which was enough to hold onto his yellow jersey.

Rodríguez rolled by Jorgensen - who focused on gaining time - on the line for the stage victory, but in the end the time wasn’t enough. The American settled for winning the white jersey rather than nabbing the race lead. Gee limited his losses to Rodríguez to hold onto third, with the Spaniard moving up one place to fourth.

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.