As it happened: GC showdown in the high mountains at stage 7 of Critérium du Dauphiné

The GC race exploded into life yesterday as Tadej Pogačar - as Tadej Pogačar is wont to do - stamped his authority on the race with a devastating attack in the final 10km.

As a result of that stage win, Pogačar is now at the top of the GC rankings, leading Jonas Vingegaard by 43 seconds and Florian Lipowit by 54, while former leader Remco Evenepoel has now slipped to fourth at 1-22. He’s in a commanding position and looking strong as ever - but there are plenty of climbs today for that situation to change.

With no less than three hors category climbs to overcome in the space of just 132.7km, this is the queen stage of this year’s Dauphiné. The Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Croix Fer are tackled back to back first, followed by a short valley road prior to a final climb and summit finish to Valmeinier 1800.

The riders have been making their way through the neutralised one and will be racing in just a few minutes.

And they're off!

OFFICIAL START

Victor Campanaerts is the first rider to make a move.

Campanaerts has a gap, and is being chased by Alex Baudin.

The riders started climbing the Col de la Madeleine right from the start, and already some are being dropped - including Jonathan Milan.

Many more riders are dropping out the back of the peloton as they climb, and a gruppetto has been formed. This could be a long day for those in it, especially if it takes a long time for the break to form.

A large chase group has formed behind Campanaerts and is closing in on him.

Campanaerts at the front of the race

Campanaerts' time out in front hasn't lasted long - he's been caught by the chase group.

And now that chase group too has been brought back by the peloton.

Lenny Martinez is the biggest GC man to be seen struggling to hold on in the peloton. The young Frenchman hasn't shown the form so far this Dauphiné as he did earlier in the season.

Sepp Kuss was one of the riders in the chase group who went after Campanaerts, before all being brought back the peloton. It’s clear Visma-Lease a Bike have a plan to get satellite riders up the road to try to unsettle UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Pogačar - perhaps remembering how successful that ploy was in winning the Giro d’Italia with Simon Yates.

Bruno Armirail and Valentin Paret-Peintre are the latest riders to attack and gain a gap of about 20 seconds over the peloton.

A chase group has formed behind that duo, and it’s a dangerous one - Matteo Jorgenson is in it.

Higuita, Healy and Baudin are among the other riders in this 9-man chase.

Jorgenson is not just a satellite rider for Visma-Lease a Bike, but a GC threat - he’s fifth on GC, just 1-41 down on Pogačar. There’s no way UAE Team Emirates - XRG can afford to let him up the road.

The other riders with Jorgenson are: Higuita, Healy, Leijnse, Jegat, Traen, Clément Braz Afonso and Juan Guillermo Martinez. Baudin has been dropped from the group.

Paret-Peintre and Armirail are just a few seconds ahead of the Jorgenson group, which is itself just a few seconds ahead of the peloton.

120KM TO GO

The Jorgenson group has been neutralised, and brought back into the peloton.

Visma aren’t done yet. Kuss counters, and has gone clear with Lutsenko and Healy, the latter trying again having been in the previous chase group.

That trio have joined up to Paret-Peintre and Armirail.

This new leading quintet have a lead of 30 seconds on the peloton

A chase group of 6 have formed behind, featuring Buitrago. The Colombian is no longer a GC threat, having fallen to 12-49 down after yesterday's stage.

Armirail has been dropped out of the lead group. The pace is still high as they continue to climb, and try to stay clear of the peloton.

The Buitrago chase group has caught the leading quartet. So we now have a new lead group of 11.

Romain Bardet was chasing them, and he too has now joined the leaders.

Bardet has two teammates with him in this lead group. This feels like a plan has been hatched by Picnic-PostNL to get their retiring star a fairytale end to his career.

The 12 riders in the lead group are: Kuss, Lutsenko, Healy, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Buitrago, Meintjes, Armirail, Jegat, Alfonso, Combaud, Juan Guillermo Martinez and Bardet.

A 13th rider has joined the lead group - Iván Romeo.

The leaders have 40 seconds on the peloton, as they come ever closer to the top of the Madeleine.

110KM TO GO

The race has settled down a bit now, but the elastic between the lead group and the peloton hasn’t snapped. Their lead has grown, but only a little, to 45 seconds.

And some riders still haven’t given up hope of joining the lead group. Leknessund and Traen have jumped out of the peloton and are in pursuit.

It hasn’t taken them long - Leknessund and Traen are with the leaders now.

Leknessund is being dropped out of the break. He must have made a big effort to bridge the gap from the peloton.

Leknessund is back in the peloton, which is just under a minute behind.

The riders have at last, after over an hour of racing, reached the top of the Col de la Madeleine. The break leads the peloton by just over a minute.

COL DE LA MADELEINE

Higuita led the break over the climb to take 15 KOM points, followed by Buitrago and Armirail. That means Armirail is now the vitual leader in the mountains classification.

The peloton that reached the top of the climb was mch reduced from that which started it. It’s been whittled down to less than 40 riders.

The gap holds steady at just over a minute, as the riders fly down the descent.

100KM TO GO

Here are the updated KOM rankings:

1 Armirail 19

2 Higuita 15

3 Baudin 13

4 Pogačar 12

5 Ourselin 12

6 Buitrago 12

The break have grown their lead a little during the second half of this descent - it's now up to 1:25.

90KM TO GO

Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, poised for battle on the coming climbs.

The riders are done descending and are about to start the second climb - the Col de la Croix de Fer.

The leaders start the climb, with an advantage over the peloton of 1:15. They’ll need to increase that on this climb if they’re to stand a chance of competing for the stage win.

For an idea of how much damage the Col de la Madeleine did, this was all that was left of the peloton as they neared the top.

The advantage has swung towards the peloton on the early slopes of the Col de la Croix Fer. The gap has been reduced, to 1 minute.

80KM TO GO

Buitrago has needed to have a bike change.

Paret-Peintre is the first rider to be dropped from the breakaway on this climb.

UAE Team Emirates - XRG lead the peloton, with Nils Politt setting the pace.

The gap is going the other way now, growing back up to 1:30.

Paret=Peintre is reabsorbed back into the peloton.

The break at the front of the race. Their lead is now 1:40.

Guillaume Martin has attacked out of the peloton.

Martin is 17th on GC at 4:44, so not much of a threat on GC.

Halfway up the Col de la Croix Fer, and no attacks yet by any of the GC men. With such a long, and not especially technical, descent to come after, they may deem it best to hold fire until the final climb - but there are still plenty of steep gradients to overcome yet on this one.

Romeo and Leknessund have been dropped out of the break, and are about 15 seconds adrift.

Leknessund's issue doesn't seem to be a lack of legs, as he's returned back into the group now. Romeo remains dropped, however, and has just been caught by Martin.

Martin and Romeo are now also with the leaders.

The break's lead is going up again. It's risen to over two minutes for the first time all day.

There's a change at the front of the peloton as Visma take over from UAE. Campanaerts is their man setting the pace.

Campanaerts has upped the pace big time. It seems Visma might be setting something up…

Campanaerts is finished, and caused significant damage. There are only around 15 riders left i the peloton, and the gap between it and the leaders has plunged to one minute.

Up ahead, Ben Healy has attacked.

Healy hasn't gone clear, but Armirail, Leknessund and Romeo have been dropped.

Jorgenson is setting the pace in the much-reduced peloton for Visma.

The break as split, with Healy, Kuss, Buitrago, Traeen and Bardet going clear.

Those five have now been joined by Martin, Martinez, Lutsenko and Higuita.

The Jorgenson-led peloton is bearing down on them, only 15 seconds away.

They still have KOM points to fight for - they are now just 500m away from the summit.

The sprint's begun for the KOM points.

Buitrago wins it ahead of Bardet.

COL DE LA CROIX FER

The peloton reaches the top just 15 seconds later. There are just 13 riders left in it.

The 8 riders left in the break have just about managed to hold off the peloton before the summit, and are now trying to build a bigger lead again on the descent.

60KM TO GO

Bardet has pressed on after going for the KOM points, and has a small gap.

The peloton might be much smaller, but most of the main GC contenders are present. Eddie Dunbar (6th overall) is the main man missing, while all the top five are still there.

At the top of the last climb, it was actually Higuita who was second, with Bardet fourth and Martinez in between in third.

Here are the updated KOM rankings, now led by Buitrago:

1 Buitrago 27

2 Higuita 27

3 Armirail 19

4 Martinez 18

5 Bardet 16

Kuss is now leading the peloton, having dropped back from the break.

The rest of the break has been caught by the peloton, but Bardet remains out there alone with a lead of 20 seconds.

50KM TO GO

25 seconds now for Bardet. A stage win would be a dream ending to his career before he retires after tomorrow's stage, but seems a real long shot from here.

As well as the riders who dropped back from the original break, these are the riders left in the peloton:

Pogačar, Vingegaard, Lipowitz, Evenepoel, Jorgenson, Seixas, Johannessen, Van Gils and Sivakov.

This is another eceptional ride by the 18(!)-year-old Paul Seias to have made this selection.

One big name missing, however, is Enric Mas. No sign of him re-joining on this descent, either.

Bardet is flying down this descent, and has grown his lead to 48 secons. He's giving himself a chance...

50KM TO GO

Mas has just made it back into the peloton, along with Carlos Rodríguez, and another Visma rider, Ben Tulett.

Tulett attacks soon after joining, the pace having slowed.

He was shot down by Evenepoel and Sivakov, but now Kuss has counter-attacked.

Sivakov has brought that move back, too.

Pogačar is outnumbered with just one domestique (Sivakov) to Vingegaard’s three (Jorgenson, Kuss and Tulett), and Visma are trying to make the most of that.

Sivakov is now pacing the peloton, with none of those attacks managing to go clear.

That flurry of actitivty has seen Bardet's lead decrease a little, from 55 seconds to 45 seconds.

The Big Three, Pogačar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel, are poised to do battle on the final climb. The stage is set!

50 seconds for Bardet, as he reaches the bottom of the descent. He's likely to need more time than that prior to the final climb, but will find it hard to do so riding alone on the valley road approaching it.

30KM TO GO

Still Sivakov leads the pack, deterring any more attacks and keeping Bardet at 45 seconds.

Sivakov is doing a good job, but won’t be able to keep this up once they start the climb proper - which will leave Pogačar isolated.

The riders are making final preparations before the final climb. Pogačar has his hand up and is calling for the team car.

Pogačar's picked up a bidon and is back towards the front of the group.

Pogačar's given a bidon to Sivakov, who continues to lead the group. He must be feeling confident, fetching the bidon himself rather than getting Sivakov to do so.

Fewer than 40 seconds now for Bardet. He's struggling to maintain his lead on this valley section.

20KM TO GO

We're just a kilometre away from the start of the final climb. This will be the first showdown on a proper mountain between Pogačar and Vingegaard since the penultimate stage of last year's Tour de France, when the former won his fifth stage of that race.

Bardet starts the climb, his lead just 35 seconds.

VALMEINIER 1800

That surely won't be enough for Bardet to win the stage, once the big GC men start racing each other. But he can dream for a little longer.

Decathlon AG2R take over the pace-setting on the climb, with Armirail doing the work for their leader Seixas. The young Frenchman already stands to rise up from 8th to 6th today.

Some of the riders who were a part of the day's original break are being dropped out of the peloton.

Decathlon's work has brought Bardet to just 14 seconds.

Here was Romain Bardet earlier, during what might be his last day leading a bike race.

Somewhat cruelly, it’s Bardet’s old team, Decathlon, who look set to catch him. No place for any sentimentality here.

That's it, Bardet is caught. Chapeau to the great Frenchman.

Just as the catch is made, Sepp Kuss attacks out of the peloton.

There’s no immediate reaction, as Kuss quickly gains 10 seconds. Sivakov takes over from Decathlon at the front of the peloton.

Still Sivakov leads, but he looks near his limit.

He's done, just as he catches Kuss.

Just as Sivakov peels off, Pogacar attacks!

POGACAR ATTACK

Vingegaad stays on his wheel...but only for a few seconds. Pog's clear again!

Sivakov had already reduced the peloton to just himself, Pogačar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Lipowitz and Johannessen before Pog made his move. Then only Vingegaard followed the attack, before he too was dropped.

Despite opening up a big gap immediatey, Pogačar hasn't gone clear. Vingegaard and Lipowitz are riding together behind, and just 7 seconds behind.

Behind that duo is Evenepoel and a very impressive Johannessen, a further 30 seconds behind.

Vingegaard has dropped Lipowitz and is setting off after Pogačar himself.

Vingegaard can see him up ahead, but isn't making any more inroads.

In fact he's dropping further adrift - he's now 15 seconds behind.

There are 14 seconds between Pog and Vingegaard, who is 10 seconds ahead of Lipowitz, with Evenepoel and Johannessen another 30 seconds back.

20 seconds now between Vingegaard and Pog. It's not growing much, but neither is the former able to make any inroads.

Still it's 20 seconds for Pogačar over Vingegaard, who's 20 seconds ahead of Lipowitz, while Johannessen clings to Evenepoel's wheel 30 seconds behind him.

For the first time in a while, Vingegaard has gained some ground, decreasing the deficit to 18 seconds. Could he yet bring Pogačar back?

5KM TO GO

Here was the moment Pogačar attacked on the climb, with Vingegaard - briefly - able to follow him.

Pog's lead is growing again, up to 22 seconds. There are 3.5km left to climb to the finish.

Vingegaard has been careful to ride tempo, and has not blown up. While his deficit remains about the same to Pog, he’s getting further and further ahead of Lipowitz, who’s nearly a minute behind now.

Just 2km left for Pogačar to ride, and he still has a 22 second buffer over Vingegaard.

Final kilometre for Pogačar.

1KM TO GO

With 500m to go Pog's increasing his lead, up to 30 seconds. And it looks effortless.

Career victory number 98 for Pogačar!

POGACAR WINS

Vingegaard comes second and gained a lot of ground sprinting for the line. In the end he loses just 15 seconds.

That was some final effort from Vingegaard, who looks spent.

Pogačar, by contrast, eased to the line, soaking up the applause as he took the win.

Lipowitz crosses the line for third.

Behind, Johannessen has dropped Evenepoel.

Johannessen takes fourth, at 2:26.

Evenepoel is fifth, at 2:39.

Now comes the next group, which contains Mas, Tulett, Rodriguez, Buchmann, Martin and Seixas.

Jorgenson finishes on his own, having been dropped out of the chase group. He'll slide down the GC from his previous position of 5th.

Romain Bardet has just crossed the finish, over 12 minutes down. Not quite the stage win he dreamed of, but he gets a big cheer from the crowd for his efforts.

Vingegaard slumped over the handlebars after his efforts limiting his losses on the final climb. One encouraging difference between yesterday and today was that this time he was much closer to Pogačar than he was to the riders chasing behind him.

While the top four on GC remains as you were, with Pogačar leading from Vingegaard, Lipowitz and Evenepoel, there are some changes further down.

Johannessen's great ride sees him leap up to 5th overall, while Seixas too rises to 6th. Jorgenson falls to 7th, while Dunbar and Barré drop out of the top ten altogether.

Thanks for joining us today! We'll be back tomorrow for the race finale. Pogačar looks firmly in control of the race, and could claim both his 99th and 100th career win should he seal the GC and the stage. But with Vingegaard still only 1:01 adrift, nothing is confirmed yet.