There’s no question as to who is the outright favourite for July’s Tour de France, as reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard utterly dominated Saturday’s queen stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Jumbo-Visma Dane padded his race lead going into the last stage with his second solo victory in three days.
The Course
Time to climb! HC-rated Col de la Madeleine crested in the middle of the 148-km route. Another HC slog, 36-hairpin Col du Mollard, led to the day’s summit finish, a legendary Tour de France ascent, the Cat. 1 Col de la Croix de Fer. Its final 6.4 kilometres were 8.2 percent.
Col de la Madeleine, Col du Mollard and Col de la Croix de Fer on the menu of #Dauphine stage 7. It’s going to be a crucial day for the general classification. pic.twitter.com/p1otB4rSvw
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) June 10, 2023
A breakaway quartet assailed the Col de la Madeleine with several chasers in between it and the Ineos-led peloton. Victor Campenaerts went over the top in the lead, immediately threatening Pierre Latour’s KOM jersey. Campenaerts carried on solo over the Col du Mollard and took over the mountains classification on the road. He was just in front of the peloton. The intrepid Belgian was caught with 12.5 km to race.
Jumbo-Visma led onto the Col de la Croix de Fer. When the group reached the steep part, many fellows went out the back, including the race’s disappointments, David Gaudu and Mikel Landa. Vingegaard blasted away with 5.3 km to race. In the podium race Adam Yates was the closest chaser of the Dane on the road. Second-place Ben O’Connor and third-place Julian Alaphilippe were fighting behind.
Jai Hindley went forward from the main chase group in search of Yates. O’Connor in turn lit out after the Bora-Hansgrohe man. In the GC Yates slotted into second and O’Connor stayed on the podium. Hindley is just outside, looking in.
Sunday’s race conclusion features six categorized climbs over 152.8 km, including the knee-cracking summit finish of La Bastille, 1.8 km of 13.6 percent.
75th Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 7
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma) 4:15:47
2) Adam Yates (Great Britain/UAE-Emirates) +0:41
3) Jai Hindley (Australia/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:53
75th Critérium du Dauphiné GC
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma) 25:22:18
2) Adam Yates (Great Britain/UAE-Emirates) +2:11
3) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R Citroën)…
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