As it happened: Primož Roglič consolidates Critérium du Dauphiné lead with another stage win

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 7 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné!

You join us today for the penultimate stage of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné, and it’s another big one in the mountains. There will be four mountains in total, three of them ranked category one, before a summit finish at the hardest of them all: Samoëns 1600.

Following yesterday’s action, we have a new leader of the race, and it’s a familiar face: Primož Roglič.The Slovenian was the 2022 edition and had a spell as overall leader in 2020, and looked in every bit as good a shape as he stormed to victory atop Le Collet d'Allevard yesterday.

While Roglič won the stage yesterday, arguably the most eye-catching performer was Derek Gee. Despite not being noted for his climbing, the Canadian stunned the field to mix it up with the GC contenders and place fourth on the stage, and maintain his fourth place on GC. It was a performance that surprised even himself.

The riders have just set off from the unofficial start, and will be racing properly soon. 

One rider not present in the peloton is Tao Geoghegan Hart. It was clear that something was up with the Brit yesterday, presumably a consequence of the previous day's mass crash, and he sat up early on the final climb and came in over 20 minutes down; and today he has left the race for good.

155KM TO GO

They're off!

As well as Hart, there are three other non-starters to report: Hugo Toumire, Logan Currie and Clément Russo. 

There’s a big group off the front of the peloton, and it’s got plenty of familiar names in it, including Magnus Cort, Mads Pedersen, Marc Soler and Valentin Madouas.

Meanwhile, out the back of the peloton, Ilan Van Wilder was dropped already, and has now abandoned the race. That’s a blow for Soudal-QuickStep leader Remco Evenepoel, though he wasn't able to be much use to him defending the yellow jersey yesterday. 

Another abandonment to report unfortunately: Emīls Liepiņš of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL.

140KM TO GO

The aforementioned group weren’t given much leeway and have been brought back, replaced by a new group of four leaders: Tim Wellens, Sean Quinn, Mathis Le Berre and Enzo Leijnse.

The riders at the start today.

The leading quartet have been joined by Quentin Pacher and the irrepressible Mads Pedersen. Today will be solely about survival for Pedersen, what with all the mountains, but he’s out attacking anyway.

All change at the front again. Tim Wellens attacked from the previous group as they caught by the peloton, before he himself was brought back. Now three new riders are in the lead: Marc Soler, Lorenzo Fortunato and Davide Formolo.

That trio have been joined by two more riders, Darren Rafferty and Nicolas Prodhomme.

130KM TO GO

And as they're about to start climbing the first test of the day, Col des Saisies, that lead group has a handy lead of over a minute. The peloton finally seem happy to let a group go. 

Warren Barguil, Kevin Geniets and Mathias Le Berre have set off in pursuit of the leading quintet, but still have almost a minute to make up on them. This climb might be the right king of territory to help them bridge across, though.

Now Guillaume Martin and Dorion Godon also attack from the peloton to try to make their way up to the leaders. The race still hasn’t settled down for now. 

Geniets and Barguil are making decent headway, and have come within 30 seconds of the leaders, but they've dropped Le Berre, who's now back with Martin and Godon behind.

Another attacker from the peloton, as Mathijs Paasschens tries his luck. He really does have a lot of ground to make up, as the peloton is now over two minutes behind the leaders.

That's it, Barguil and Geniets have made the junction. They join Soler, Fortunato, Rafferty, Formolo and Prodhomme at the front of the race.

Now Guillaume Martin joins the leaders too, along with Koen Bouwman, who must have joined him somewhere further down the mountain. 

120KM TO GO

Those nine leaders have now crested the Col des Saisies, with Fortunato taking maximum KOM points followed by Barguil, Soler, Formolo, Geniets and Rafferty. Now comes a long descent, and a considerable way until the next climb. 

It's actually 10 leaders rather than 9 - Godon also succeeded in making his way into the group.

The weather's not nice out there, and the wet roads could make this descent dangerous. Nobody wants a repeat of the crash from two days ago. 

110KM TO GO

Thankfully the riders have finished the first part of the descent without incident. They’ll now ride a plateau for several kilometres before continuing the rest of the way down.

There might not have been any fallers on the descent, but there is some drama as Aleksandr Vlasov, currently placed fifth on GC, is dropped.

A couple more abandonments to report, and they’re both Movistar riders - Iván Sosa and Iván García Cortina.

100KM TO GO

We're about two thirds into the stage now, and the ten-man break has a healthy lead of over three minutes on the peloton. In between them are still Le Berre and Paasschens, who are stranded in no-man's land.

Bora-Hansgrohe are setting the pace at the front of the peloton, suggesting that Vlasov is safely back in it having been dropped earler on the descent. 

90KM TO GO

Bora’s work is keeping the break at about 3-30. They need to be careful to keep it controlled, as Marc Soler is 3-45 behind Roglič on GC - and therefore only a few seconds away from being the virtual yellow jersey.

The riders are now done descending and making their way along the valley to the foot of the next climb, Côte d'Araches.

80KM TO GO

Almost four minutes for the break now, meaning Soler is now the virtual race leader. He’s too dangerous a rider to allow back into the GC race - Bora will have to put the effort in come the next climb.

Riders really are dropping like flies in terms of abandoning today. Nelson Powless, Antoine Huby and Mason Hollyman are the latest to go, following Cristián Rodríguez, Kenny Elissonde and Clément Berthet earlier. The effects of Thursday’s crash continue to send reverberations through the race.

The leaders have started Côte d'Araches. At 6.2km it’s shorter than the last climb, but with a steeper average gradient of 7.4%. This could be a chance for the superior climbers in the break to eject some deadweights and thin the group out.

Meanwhile behind the leaders, Le Berre and Paasschens have come agonisingly close to joining them after their long, resilient effort, along with Mark Donovan, who bridged up to them earlier. They’re now just 20 seconds adrift.

Frustratingly for Le Berre, he's going backwards again, dropped by the other two just as it seemed he was nearing making the junction. 

Now Donovan is on his own, having dropped Paasschens as well.

Here's a glimpse at the kind of conditions the riders had to descend in earlier. Thanfully the one following this climb is shallower. 

70KM TO GO

The ten leaders aren't going quick enough for anyone to be dropped, but have nevertheless extended their lead over the peloton to over four minutes. Meanwhile  Paasschens and Le Berre are going backwards again, now each over a minute adrift again, while Donovan can't quite make the junction.

The riders have crested the climb, and this time it's Fortunato who takes the maximum points on offer, with Barguil just behind. They move up to 2nd and 3rd in the KOM classifications as a result, behind only Le Berre. 

At last, Donovan has joined the leaders. The question now is whether he can be competetive for the stage win come the final two climbs, or if this big effort has taken too much out of him.

Le Berre's day is over, and he's caught by the peloton. He can only hope the rest of the KOM points get distributed so that he manages to keep hold of the jersey, but with so many points on offer that seems unlikely.

Now long now until the start of the next climb, Col de la Ramaz, and it's another big one. At 14km it's the longest of the day, and with an average of 7% it's hardly shallow either. 

A couple more DNFs: Anthon Charmig and Filippo Conca.

50M TO GO

The road tilts uphill again for the leaders as they reach Col de la Ramaz. This is going to be a tough one, and one you'd expect would force some splits in this group.

It seems Donovan’s work earlier was in vain - he’s the first to be dropped from the lead group.

More surprisingly, Martin has been dropped too. On paper he’s one of the strongest, if not the strongest, climber in the group.

It's Bora setting the pace in the peloton, but they're climbing slower than the lead group, which have increased their lead to 4-20.

Warren Barguil's upped the pace in the break, and has opened up a gap.

Soler is with Barguil now, and Rafferty and Fortunato have formed a chasing duo.

Now Soler's out in front on his own. Barguil is back with Rafferty and Fortunato, but they're already ten seconds behind.

Fortunato is the strongest of this trio, and has dropped the other two with his pace. He has Soler in his sights. 

Behind, Paasschens is back in the peloton.

Nico Denz is leading the peloton now for Bora-Hansgrohe, and some riders are being dropped out of it - including Chris Froome.

Soler is flying up this mountain. He's 25 seconds ahead of the next man on the road, Fortunato and extending his lead on the peloton to nearly five minutes. 

The break earlier on, before it split apart on this climb.

40KM TO GO

Soler's lead continues to grow, now to over a minute. Behind there's been a regrouping, with Fortunato, Rafferty, Barguil, Bouwman and Prodhomme all together now.

Soler is under 1km from the top of the climb. He's set for a big haul of King of the Mountains points.

Soler reaches the top, and he's a long way ahead of the rest.

The five chasers reach the top, and they're a whole 1-45 behind. Either Soler has gone much harder on this climb than them, or he's simply climbing much better. 

The peloton still has some way to go 'till the top. As Mark Donovan is reabsorbed into it, their defecit is about 5-30. 

This is a technical descent, made even trickier by the wet roads. Soler is taking the corners very cautiously.

Marc Soler, all alone at the front of the race.

Incidentally, Fortunato was second to the top of the climb after Soler earlier, meaning he overtakes Le Berre as virtual King of the Mountains.

20KM TO GO

Soler’s tentative descending has seen him concede a few seconds, but he still has a big lead of 1-37 on the chasers, and 5 minutes on the peloton.

Davide Formolo has joined the chasers, and did attack them briefly before returning to work with them.

Further down the road, Soler's teammate Pavel Sivakov (who is 15th on GC) has been trying to get back into the peloton for a while now. He had to change bikes earlier, and is being paced by Nils Politt.

The Sivakov group is back in the peloton, and among them was Nico Denz, who is already back on the front of the peloton setting the pace for Bora. He has gotten through a hell of a lot of work today. 

Here's Primož Roglič on the descent. It's been a relatively comfortable day so far for the race leader, with only Marc Soler’s attack for him to worry about, but will he come under pressure from his GC rivals on the upcoming climb?

10KM TO GO

Soler starts the final climb - and it's a real monster. For 10km it averages a horrible 9%, with plenty of fluctuations on the way for some seriously big ramps. His lead over the chasers is back up to 2 minutes, and on the peloton about 4-20, which may be big, but lots can change on a climb as hard as this.

Roglič looked very strong yesterday, and has a significant advantage over all his rivals, with Remco Evenepoel in second at 19 seconds and Matteo Jorgenson a distant third at 58 seconds. But this climb poses a whole different problem with its steep slopes, and could punish him if he’s on a bad day.

The peloton are on the climb now, and Denz's day is done. Sobrero takes over for Bora.

Already riders are being dropped out the back en masse, including Mads Pedersen, and Sepp Kuss, who hasn't been in form all race.

Jack Haig is the first member of the top ten to be dropped.

There are only about 25 riders or so left in the peloton.

The pace in the peloton is well up on this climb. So much so that Soler is now longer the virtual race leader, now just 3-20 ahead. 

Soler does still have 1-50 over the chasers, so if he is to lose this stage, it will be through someone in the peloton rather than among the chasers.

Remco Evenepoel is struggling at the back of the peloton...

...and now he's dropped!

Sobrero is done, and now Hindley has taken over for Bora-Hansgrohe.

Hindley is turning the screw on Evenepoel, who is already almost 20 seconds adrift.

All the main GC men apart from Evenepoel are still here - as is, remarkably, Josh Tarling. That’s an extraordinary performance from a rider with such a profile, especially given the gradient of this climb, and all the mountains already done earlier. 

Ciccone launches the first attack from the peloton. He's brought back though, but clearly feels he has good legs.

Now Vlasov takes over for Bora.

There are only twelve riders left in the peloton: Vlasov, Roglič, Jorgenson, Gee, Ciccone, Lazkano, De Plus and Rodriguez among them. 

Landa, Scotson, Buitrago and Romo are also still in the peloton.

The remnants of the break have been caught by this fast approaching peloton and jettisoned out. Soler is the only man left ahead of them now.

Soler is reall struggling on the climb, and is losing time fast. It's a big ask for him to hold on, with a lead of just 1-30.

A change in the peloton as Buitrago takes over at the front from Vlasov. The Colombian is clearly feeling much better than yesterday.

Meanwhile Evenepoel is 1-10 behind the peloton, and has actually clawed back some time in the last few minutes. His place on the podium is still in jeopardy, however.

Vlasov is back at the front of the peloton. The group's a little smaller again, with just 11 riders left.

Those 11 riders are: Vlasov, Roglic, Jorgenson, Landa, Ciccone, Buitrago, Rodriguez, De Plus, Lazkano, Romo and Gee.

Soler is having a horrible time out there. He can't find any rythem on these gradients, and is swaying from one side of the road to the next.

2KM TO GO

Soler has been caught. It was a brave effort, but he might have gone too hard too early, given how hard this final climb has been.

Still its Vlasov setting the pace, and still the ten riders follow him.

Evenepoel is now longer gaining time on the peloton, but has held his deficit at 1-15.

Romo is being dropped now from the peloton, and Landa too is struggling.

1KM TO GO

Final kilometre! This is around the time Primož Roglič tends to attack...

Vlasov is gasping for breath, he can't have much left.

Buitrago attacks!

Lazkano is on his wheel, followed by Roglič

Vlasov is finished, and De Plus has been dropped with him

Lazkano attacks!

He's caught, and now Roglic goes

Roglič has a gap, but Jorgenson's closing down on him.

Roglič takes the win!

Behind them, Ciccone, Lazkano and Gee claimed third, fourth and fifth respectively, about a second or two after Roglič and Jorgenson.

Evenepoel finished 13th place, 1-46 behind. That means he slips from second overall to sixth overall. Not a disasterous day, but confirmation that he still has lots of work to do to be ready to compete for GC at the Tour de France in a few weeks. 

As for Roglič, that was a vintage performance from the Slovenian, following his teammates all the way up the climb before out-sprinting everyone at the top to win. There can be no doubting his form going into the Tour de France, and it’d take a disaster tomorrow for him to not win the Dauphiné.

The stage top ten in full:

1 Primož Roglič

2 Matteo Jorgenson at same time

3 Giulio Ciccone at 0-02

4 Oier Lazkano 

5 Derek Gee both at same time

6 Carlos Rodríguez at 0-08

7 Santiago Buitrago at 0-14

8 Laurens De Plus 

9 Aleksandr Vlasov both at same time

10 Mikel Landa at 0-33

There were some extraordinary performances from riders who are no way recognised as climbers. We’ve grown accustomed to expecting the unexpected with Derek Gee this week, but this might have been his most remarkable performance yet, sticking with the top favourites all the way up a horrible mountain that’s for the pure climbers, and finishing fifth at the line.

And what about Oier Lazkano? It turns out that as well as being a talented classics prospect, he can also climb with the very best. He caught the eye yesterday by finishing 15th, but this performance was on a whole other level, and he even tried to win it with a late attack. 

The updated GC top ten:

1 Primož Roglič

2 Matteo Jorgenson at 1-02

3 Derek Gee at 1-13

4 Aleksandr Vlasov at 1-56

5 Carlos Rodríguez at 1-58

6 Remco Evenepoel at 2-15

7 Laurens De Plus at 2-17

8 Oier Lazkano at 2-20

9 Giulio Ciccone at 2-54

10 Mikel Landa at 3-51

So is this Critérium du Dauphiné all over? Primož Roglič has certainly looked untouchable these past couple of days, while his Bora-Hansgrohe team have the whole race in their stranglehold. His lead of 1-02 over Jorgenson and 1-13 over Gee are substantial, and those riders may be more concerned about defending their podium places than trying to unseat him. But there are plenty more mountains on the menu tomorrow for Roglič, and he has a history of struggling on the final GC day of a stage race, so who knows?

Be sure to join us again tomorrow to find out!