Criterium du Dauphine 2024: Roglic wins the mountain finish of stage 6, Evenepoel drops back

The Criterium du Dauphine 2024 reaches the final stage of the tour with stage 6 - and the first of three mountain finishes in a row. At the end of the 174.1-kilometre stage from Hauterives to the arrival in the Le Collet d'Allevard ski resort, there was the expected showdown of the big names - with winners and losers.

After strong preparatory work by team-mate Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), Roglic finally pulled away from his last companion Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) in the final 500 metres and celebrated his first individual victory in the Bora-Hansgrohe jersey. Ciccone finished three seconds later, Vlasov followed 11 seconds behind.

Remco Evenpoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) was unable to follow Roglic's attack four kilometres from the finish and eventually crossed the line 42 seconds later. The final ascent of the HC category up to an altitude of 1385 metres led over eleven kilometres with an average gradient of 8.1 per cent. The climb also turned out to be a setback on the road to the Tour de France for other highly rated names. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) and Sepp Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), among others, fell back early.

In the overall standings, Roglic now leads Evenepoel by 19 seconds, Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) follows by 58 seconds ahead of the surprisingly strong Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech, +1:01), who finished the stage in fourth place, just 13 seconds behind.

Meanwhile, the mass crash that led to a neutralisation on stage 5 called for a number of retirements. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who was in eighth place in the classification before the stage, did not start the stage.

Criterium du Dauphine 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 6

1. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), 4:19:59 hours
2. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), +0:03
3. Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), +0:11
4. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), +0:13
5. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), +0:17
6. Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), +0:22
7. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), +0:22
8. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step), +0:42
9. Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious), +0:50
10. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), +0:53

The current standings in the overall standings

1. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), 16:47.44 hours
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step), +0:19
3. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), +0:58
4. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), +1:01
5. Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), +1:32
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), +1:40
7. Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), +1:53
8. Oier Lazkano (Movistar) +2:08
9. Callum Scotson (Team Jayco-AlUla), +2:15
10. Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious), +2:31

This is how the 6th stage of the Criterium du Dauphine went

After just a few kilometres, the leading group of the day came together, consisting of Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Arjen Livyns (Lotto Dstny), Alessandro Fancellu (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Mason Hollyman (Israel-Premier Tech) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility), the winner of stage 2. The peloton let the group ride and allowed a maximum lead of around six minutes in the meantime.

After just 31 kilometres, the Côte de la Côte-Saint-André (4th category) was the first hill, where Guernalec secured the mountain classification. The terrain then remained unproblematic for long stretches before the Col du Granier (2nd category) heralded the finale after 120 kilometres. Guernalec again secured the mountain classification at the summit.

The escape group was then robbed of a better starting position through their own fault and the fault of others: Firstly, Guernalec and Hollyman locked their brakes in a right-hand bend and collided, causing the Israel-Premier-Tech rider to lose contact with the group - later the escapees were briefly misdirected on the route. This reduced the lead to 2:45 minutes 25 kilometres before the finish. The group reached the final climb with a lead of 1:40 minutes.

Ten kilometres before the finish, the group fell apart on the climb after an acceleration by Gregoire, who was initially only followed by Cort Nielsen. Shortly afterwards, Gregoire was on his own. Meanwhile, Ineos Grenadiers set a fast pace in the peloton. Early in the final climb, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Sepp Kuss dropped back.

An attack by Laurens de Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) brought movement into the group of favourites five kilometres before the finish. Only Alexandr Vlasov followed the Belgian and both soon passed the last breakaway rider Gregoire. The next attacks came from Guilio Ciccone and Primoz Roglic, who were only followed by Matteo Jorgenson, Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Derek Gee. Remco Evenepoel was unable to react at the end of the group of favourites.

Two kilometres before the finish, the group around Roglic caught up with De Plus and Vlasov - shortly afterwards Roglic, Vlasov and Ciccone broke away and reached the final kilometre together. There, Roglic secured victory with an attack in the final 400 metres.