Critérium du Dauphiné stage 7: Carlos Verona climbs to summit victory, Primož Roglič seizes GC lead

Carlos Verona (Movistar) distanced breakaway rival Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) to record his first pro victory in a multi-mountain stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Behind Verona, Jumbo-Visma seized control of GC.

Primož Roglič made a stunning late move to finish second atop the Vaujany summit, with teammate and MVP Jonas Vingegaard crossing the line for third shortly afterward. The result puts the pair one-two on GC after a stunning show of force on the final climb to the line.

Roglič now holds a 44-second lead over teammate Vingegaard, with Ben O’Connor (Ag2r-Citrën) next at 1:24.

Overnight race leader Wout van Aert was detached on the second of two HC climbs at around 32km to go, but Jumbo-Visma keeps the maillot jaune aboard its bus heading into the final stage Sunday.

The prospect of two HC climbs and one more ascent to the line didn’t deter the earlier attackers.

Riders surged all through the opening climb up to the Galibier summit and eventually Matteo Fabbro (Bora-Hansgrohe) and KoM points-hunting Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM) got a gap over the hulking summit.

A series of chase groups bridged across on the huge descent to leave an 18-rider escape rumbling into the valley with around two minutes on the bunch.

Elissonde was one of three Trek-Segfredo in the move, while Verona and Gregor Mühlberger were the two Movistar riders out front.

DSM also had two in the breakaway, and Mark Donovan kicked clear at the base of the Croix de Fer before being reeled in some 10km later.

Jumbo-Visma bossed the bunch behind for its triple threat of leaders and the Dutch crew kept the break within around two minutes of a lead.

Tour de France-bound Enric Mas (Movistar) was dropped out of the peloton toward the top of the HC Croix de Fer after crashing earlier in the week.

Leader’s jersey-wearing Van Aert was next to lose the wheels after Mas. The Belgian hadn’t been expected to last through the high Alpine ascents and eventually dropped around 3km from the summit, 32km from the line.

Mühlbergerand then pocket rocket Elissonde attacked out of the break toward the top of the Croix de Fer and the bunch exploded behind.

Rolland, Verona, and Victor Lafay (Cofidis) bridged across to Elissonde and Mühlberger soon afterward. Elissonde repeatedly tried to crack his rivals, but the quintet plummeted off the summit as a unit.

The long, multi-step descent saw Verona and the relentless Elissonde come together and the pair hit the base of the 5.7-kilometer climb up to Vaujany with around 30 seconds over the nearest chaser.

Verona attacked as soon as the road pointed uphill and slowly winched away from his pint-size rival. The Spaniard rode strong all through the climb as Elissonde faltered, leaving Verona to ride solo to record his first pro victory.

The GC contenders hit the base of the climb together, just 1:40 back. Groupama-FDJ set the pace on the front before Ruben Guerreiro attacked out of the group of favorites at around 3.5km to go and attacks flew behind him.

Vingegaard was the first big name to move, marked by O’Connor. Roglič sat poised on the Aussie’s wheel and four more GC stars followed him.

Vingegaard kept motoring for some time before Roglič finally launched at around 1.6km to go. O’Connor briefly tried to follow but Roglič’s rocket-ship pace was unmatchable. The ruthless Slovenian hunted down Verona, who was just two-dozen seconds up the road.

Verona’s big chance looked doomed, but the Movistar man held out for victory as Roglič crossed the line 13 seconds later.

💛 Le nouveau @MaillotjauneLCL : 🇸🇮@rogla ! 👏

💛 The new Yellow Jersey: 🇸🇮@rogla! 👏#Dauphiné pic.twitter.com/T2UXPfP3gi

— Critérium du Dauphiné (@dauphine) June 11, 2022

The stage makes for a pre-Tour de France warning as Roglič and Vingegaard set their sights on the Grand Départ next month.

“We didn’t talk much about the move, but both of us felt good. I tried to attack and I saw not many were left in the group and Primoz was there so I decided I’d better pace it and make it hard as possible,” Vingegaard said at the finish. “I’m very happy how I’m doing, my shape is really good and I think I’m on track for the Tour.”

Up next: Even more mountains

The final GC will be decided in a second day through the Alps.

Two cat.1 and a cat.3 climb make for warmups before a crushing 11.4km, 8.9 percent climb to the line at Plateau de Solaison.