Visma-Lease a Bike threw everything they had at Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on the Critérium du Dauphiné's “queen stage”, but it wasn’t enough to derail the Slovenian, who broke away from his rivals on the final climb to Valmeinier 1800 and finished 14 seconds clear of Visma rival Jonas Vingegaard.
The 98th victory of Pogačar’s career extended his overall lead on Vingegaard to a minute and one second ahead of the race’s final stage to Mont Cenis.
Asked about his UAE team’s strategy and his decision to attack with 12km remaining to the finish, Pogačar said: “Today we wanted to take control on the all of the climbs, but Visma tried with all the attacks.
“I was pretty happy how Pavel [Sivakov] was riding today and the team. So, it was sort of defence, not to get attacked by everyone from Visma. So I launched it and I maintained a good pace to the top. I was really happy that I could defend the jersey like this.”
Once again, this pair were a class apart from the rest of the field. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was the pick of them, the leader of the best young rider competition cementing his grip on third place ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), who finished fifth on the stage behind Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), who moved up to fifth overall.
Further down the classification French teenager Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) once again underlined his immense potential. The 18-year-old finished in the next group to rise two places to sixth place on GC.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Visma-Lease a Bike didn’t waste any time before revealing their intentions for the stage. Their Belgian rouleur Victor Campanaerts was the first rider to make a move right after the start flag had been waved, while teammate Sepp Kuss then infiltrated the break that formed in the very early kilometres on the Col de la Madeleine.
Instigated by Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), the group that came together on that long climb also featured Alexey Lutsenko (Israel Premier-Tech), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Santiago Buitrago, Torsten Træen (both Bahrain Victorious), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty), Jordan Jegat (Team TotalEnergies), Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ), Romain Combaud, Romain Bardet, Juan Guillermo Martínez (all Team Picnic PostNL), Iván Romeo (Team Movistar) and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility).
The break crossed the summit of the Madeleine with a lead of just over a minute on the peloton, which was being controlled by UAE. However, when the riders began to climb again, this time on the immense Croix de Fer pass, Visma-Lease a Bike returned to action.
Campanaerts was the initial trigger, his feverish pace-making shredding the yellow jersey group, which was reduced to just 15 riders. Matteo Jorgenson then picked up the baton from his Belgian teammate, the pace so fierce that the group of favourites was right on the heels of the nine surviving breakaway riders crossing the summit of the Croix de Fer.
On the long descent away from that pass, Bardet, racing towards the final summit finish of his illustrious career, pressed on alone from the breakaway group. The Picnic leader reached the foot of the Croix de Fer with a lead of 50 seconds on the yellow jersey group, which he just about held going onto the final climb to Valmeinier 1800.
Close behind Bardet, Visma’s riders were still continuing to harry Pogačar, who was isolated for a time until Pavel Sivakov bridged back up to support him. Visma, though, still had numbers on their side, with Vingegaard supported by Jorgenson, Kuss and Ben Tulett.
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s faith in young Paul Seixas was demonstrated when they took over the pace-making at the foot of Valmeinier 1800, their tempo quickly ending the hopes of their former leader Bardet. As the Frenchman was reeled in, Kuss attacked and Sivakov gave all he had left to bring the American back into line.
As Kuss's attack was neutralised, Pogačar decided his best defence against Visma was to launch an offensive of his own. As he shot away, Vingegaard was the only rival able to stay on his wheel, but even the Dane didn’t hold it for very long.
The gap between the two rivals remained a matter of seconds for a good distance and never reached half a minute. However, the expression on the two riders’ faces spoke volumes. While Pogačar looked to be riding within his limit and later admitted he had been due to the heat, Vingegaard appeared agonised as he strove to limit his losses.
Ultimately, he did that well, but Pogačar is now well set to claim his first victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné and to head into the Tour de France as the favourite for a fourth title.
Results
Critérium du Dauphiné, stage seven: Grande-Aigueblanche > Velmeinier 1800 (132.7km)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:10:00
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +14s
3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:21
4. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X, +2:26
5. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:39
6. Ben Tulett (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:48
7. Enric Mas (Spa) Team Movistar, st
8. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Cofidis, +3:51
9. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers
10. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, both at same time
General classification after stage seven
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 25:44:58
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:01
3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:21
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +4:11
5. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X, +5:55
6. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +6:50
7. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:18
8. Ben Tulett (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:24
9. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, +7:41
10. Enric Mas (Spa) Team Movistar, +7:43
