The 7th stage of this Dauphiné criteriumlong awaited by the runners since the start of the week, took place this Saturday. Three outdoor passes were on the menu: La Madeleine (24.7 km at 6.1 %), the Iron Cross (22.4 km at 7 %) and Valmenier 1800 (16.2 km at 6.8 %). Nearly 5000 m of elevation and three passages above 1800 m: a real project … which has seen itself Tadej Pogacar ! Untouchable, the Slovenian training UAE Team Emirates XRG Once again put a lot of his opponents, attacking 12 kilometers from the finish, relegating his dolphin Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | lease a bike) about ten seconds, without giving the impression of having forced.
Video – Tadej Pogacar, winner of this 7th stage
The summary
As expected, the high mountain quickly animated the race, with a solid breakaway which was drawn from the first kilometers of the Madeleine pass. A group of a dozen runners took the lead, including Romain Bardet (Picnic postnl), Sepp kiss (Visma | Lease a Bike), Alexey Lutsenko (Israel-Premier Tech), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) or Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R). A little later, other runners returned to the front, bringing the leading group to around twenty units. Behind, the peloton never left too much field. UAE Team Emirates XRGThen Visma | Lease a Bike Rolled up hard, especially in the ascent of the Col de la Croix de Iron. At the top, the peloton returns to fugitives, but Bard accelerates and takes a few lengths ahead. The Frenchman makes the effort in the descent and takes 45 seconds in advance.
The tension rises as the last ascent towards Valmeinier 1800 approaches, with almost 5,000 meters of elevation cumulative elevation today. A fireworks are expected in the last kilometers, where the general's leaders should give themselves a muscular explanation.
Pogacar without competition
In the first kilometers of this ascent, Sepp kiss (Visma | lease a bike) goes to the attack. Behind, Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates XRG) is rhythm, and the peloton explodes. Then Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) is attacking, alone Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | lease a bike) tries to follow, but cracks quickly under the infernal rhythm of the yellow jersey. The gap quickly rises to 20 seconds, then stabilizes. Behind, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is a third step. Then we find Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) et Tobias Johannessen (UNO-X Mobility), and another group with in particular Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) et Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R).
The gap remains rather stable between Pogacar et Awesomebut is constantly increasing with others. The Slovenian flies on the slopes of Valmeinier 1800, and digs up to 30 seconds on the Danish, before getting up in the last kilometer. Quiet, without giving the impression of forcing, he passed the line with 14 seonds in advance on Awesome. Behind, the gaps are huge, Florian Lipowitz Go to 3rd position, at 1'21 “. Tobias Johannessen is 4th at 2'26 “, Remco Evenepoel 5th to 2'39 “. The French Guillaume Martin (Groupama-FDJ) and Paul Seixas Pass the line in 10th and 11th positions, at 3'51 “. The poor operation of the day is to put to the credit of Matteo Jorgensonwho fell in love with the final ascent and finished 12th at 5'27 “.
In the general classification, Pogacar now account 1'01 “in advance on Awesome and 2'21 “on Lipowitz. Remco Evenepoel (4th), points him to 4'11 “. Paul Seixas Go back to 6th place, to 6'50 “.
