Criterium du Dauphine 2024 - Stage 7: Roglic strikes again, Evenepoel far behind

Much resembled the scenery of the previous day in the Samoens 1600 ski area. Once again, Roglic was chauffeured by noble helper Aleksandr Vlasov until well into the final kilometre, before one of his explosive attacks was enough to close out the stage. This time it was Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) who was left behind, as he was able to close the small gap to Roglic but was unable to overtake the winner. A two-second gap opened up between him and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Derek Gee (Israel - Premier Tech), who finished in second place.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) was hit much harder, as he was unable or unwilling to follow the pace of the group of favourites early on in the final climb of the 155-kilometre stage starting in Albertville. In the end, the Belgian time trial world champion conceded almost two minutes to Roglic and slipped back to sixth place in the overall standings.

20 drivers do not reach the finish line

Numerous professionals were still suffering from the consequences of the fall, which they suffered on the neutralised 5th stage. There were a total of 20 fewer riders in the overall classification compared to the previous day. Eight of them, including Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), and twelve others finished the day, which was again mostly completed in the rain, before the finish line.

Only 109 riders arrived at the top of Samoens - last and more than half an hour behind Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-B&B Hotels) in the mountains jersey, which he wore for the last time. After the stage, it belonged to Roglic, as did the green jersey of the points leader. Jorgenson is the new leader in the young rider classification.

Criterium du Dauphine 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 7

1. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), 4:29:16
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), +0:00
3. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), +0:02
4. Oier Lazkano (Movistar), +0:02
5. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), +0:02
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), +0:08
7. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), +0:14
8. Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), +0:14
9. Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), +0:14
10. Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step), +0:33

The current standings in the overall standings

1. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), 21:16:50
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), +1:02
3. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), +1:13
4. Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), +1:56
5. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), +1:58
6. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step), +2:15
7. Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), +2:17
8. Oier Lazkano (Movistar) +2:20
9. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), +2:54
10. Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step), +3:51

This is how the 7th stage of the Criterium du Dauphine went

Immediately after the start of the stage in Albertville, it was uphill. On the approach to the first climb of the day, the Col des Saisies (1st category), several leading groups formed, but were caught again as the climb became steeper. A ten-man lead group formed on the Saisies, including Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Davide Formolo (Movistar) and Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Koen Bouwman (Visma | Lease a Bike).

Le Berre in the mountain jersey fought in vain to catch up after missing the train. He also didn't make it on the descent from the Saisies, where the leading group entered with a three-minute lead. They extended their lead to four minutes over the Cote d'Araches (1st category) and took this with them into the third single climb of the day, the Col de la Ramaz.

Evenepoel loses a lot of time

While Bora-Hansgrohe continued to set the pace, the front broke away. Soler attacked, Fortunato, Darren Rafferty (EF Education EasyPost) and Warren Barguil (dsm-firmenich PostNL) set off in pursuit. But Soler powered over the Ramaz and had a one and a half minute lead over Barguil, Rafferty, Bouwman and Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) at the summit, five and a half minutes over the field.

At the foot of the final climb up to Samoens (HC category), the soloist took the lead with two minutes on the chasers and four and a half on the small peloton. After three of the last ten kilometres uphill, Evenepoel had to let the group of favourites go. They also caught up with Soler 2100 metres before the end.

As before, there were no attacks at first - thanks to the high pace of Roglic's noble helper Aleksandr Vlasov. He led the peloton up to the 600 metre mark before Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) was the first to break clear. Oier Lazkano (Movistar) countered his attack, but he also ran out of energy in the final metres to follow Roglic's attack 250 metres before the finish. Jorgenson only reached the Slovenian's rear wheel shortly before the finish line. But he was unable to get past