Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) stamped his authority on the Critérium du Dauphiné, soloing to a second mountain stage win on stage 7 and extending his GC lead over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike).
The Slovenian made his move 12km from the top of the day’s final climb, Valmeinier 1800, countering a move from Vingegaard’s teammate Sepp Kuss as he launched clear of the GC group.
Behind, Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) gave chase as Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) battled on further back. Vingegaard himself would go solo for the final 10km of the HC-rated climb, but the Dane couldn’t reel in the yellow jersey, and so he’d have to settle for another second place.
Vingegaard crossed the line 14 seconds after Pogačar, with the gap at the top of the GC now an extended 1:01 ahead of Sunday’s final stage. Lipowitz finished in third place at 1:21 down, retaining his final podium spot.
Further back, Evenepoel slipped behind Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) to finish fifth on the day, 2:39 off Pogačar.
The top four spots in the general classification are unchanged heading into Sunday’s closing stage, with Pogačar now 1:01 up on Vingegaard and 2:21 up on Lipowitz.
Former race leader Evenepoel falls to a distant 4:11 in the standings in fourth place. Johannessen’s impressive ride, meanwhile, sees him move up to fifth overall, 5:55 away from yellow.
Results
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