Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) has won stage 7 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné with a typical late surge on the mountain top finish of Samoëns 1600.
Roglič extended his lead in the general classification and will hold a healthy lead heading into the final stage as Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick-Step) fell down the standings on a tough day in the Alps.
Matteo Jorgensen (Visma-Lease a Bike) was closest to the Slovenian, finishing second, while Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) was third.
The American also climbed up to second on the overall standings and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) moved onto the podium in third.
The difficulty of more the 4,000 metres of elevation over the day’s 155 kilometres was magnified by the inclement weather that the race has been used to all week. Roglič was pleased to make it through the stage and to be able to reward his team-mates for their work.
“It was a hard day, but guys did an amazing job having everything under control from the very start till the finish, so I’m glad I had the legs at the end to finish top,” Roglič said whilst warming down after the stage.
“The guys did an incredible job,” he continued. “We all still feel it, after the crash and putting now these hard days in the legs. I mean, for sure nobody feels better, but with the commitment and work they put in [it’s] another day that we can celebrate and be happy.”
With one day to go, Roglič looks set to win the Dauphiné for the second time. He’s keeping calm, as ever, focused on the job at hand with one more day in the mountains.
“First things first, let’s try to finish tomorrow also on two wheels. We do our best and we’ll see what happens then,” he concluded
More to come…