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Sunday, June 15, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
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Current racing:
- June 8 - 15: Critérium du Dauphiné
- June 15 - 22: Tour de Suisse
Upcoming racing:
- June 18 - 22: Baloise Belgium Tour
- July 5 - 27: Tour de France
Latest completed racing:
- June 13: GP Kanton Aargau
- June 8: Brussels Cycling Classic
- May 9 - June 1: Giro d'Italia
- May 29 - June 1: Tour of Norway
- May 14 - 18: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
- May 18: Rund um Köln
- May 13: Classique Dunkerque
- May 11: Tro-Bro Léon
- May 10: GP du Morbihan
- May 9: Tour du Finistère
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from stage seven winner & GC leader Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:
With another searing performance, Tadej Pogačar made it two victories in as many days at the Critérium du Dauphiné, as he further strengthened his grip on the yellow jersey as race leader. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider attacked with 12km of the final mountain to ride on stage 7, quickly distancing his rivals and going alone to the finish.
Tadej Pogacar solos across the the stage seven finish line. Sirotti photo
As Pogačar made his acceleration, not even Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) could hold the wheel, with the Dane forced into a lengthy but futile pursuit of the world champion. At first, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) united with Vingegaard to mount a chase, but Vingegaard was too strong for the white jersey holder, and he would ride to second place over the line.
Pogačar, meanwhile, settled into his rhythm and powered his way to the top of Valmeinier 1800 (16.2km at 6.8%). The yellow jersey wearer claimed the 98th victory of his career, extending his advantage in the lead of the race to 1:01 heading into Sunday’s final stage.
Earlier in the stage, Visma-Lease a Bike had tried to gain the upper hand on the Emirati squad. Setting a hard pace on the Col de la Croix de Fer, the team of Vingegaard maintained healthy numbers as those by Pogačar’s side dwindled. However, there was to be no isolating the world champion, with Pavel Sivakov producing a gritty display to maintain UAE Team Emirates-XRG control on the day.
The French rider came to the fore as the peloton marched towards the final climb of the day, with just the soon-to-be-retired Romain Bardet (Team Picnic-PostNL) out front, looking to end his career on a high. In the end, it was not to be for Bardet, with the Sivakov-led peloton sweeping the Frenchman aside some 13km from the summit of the final climb. It was at this point that the pace truly began to be ramped up, as Sivakov looked to pre-empt an attack from his team leader.
Just a kilometre later, Pogačar made good on the plan, launching a ferocious acceleration that not one rider could match. Despite his best efforts, Vingegaard was forced to watch the world champion ride out of sight, as the gap between the leader on the road and those behind soon exceeded 10 seconds.
For the rest of the climb, Pogačar pressed home his advantage and ensured that nobody would catch his wheel before the line. It was a domineering display that saw the race leader pick up his third victory of the week at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Only Sunday’s stage stands between the Slovenian and his first Dauphiné title.
Pogačar: “We had our own plan but then Visma started to go full gas on the first category climb and actually before the start, I didn’t know, but this climb I definitely did before and it brought back memories.
“Today we wanted to take control on all the climbs but Visma tried with all the attacks. I was pretty happy with how Pavel was riding today, and the team, so it was a sort of defence not to get attacked by everyone from Visma. I launched it and I maintained a good pace to the top, so I am happy that I could defend the jersey like this.
“Visma attacked towards the top of the Croix de Fer, then I think they wanted to drop me on the downhill. When Pavel came back, he took control again and it was all fine. On the last climb, Pavel said that he could not do much longer so he prepared me for the attack. I just committed because I didn’t want any attacks from behind.
“For sure today, Jonas [Vingegaard] was really strong, but I also didn’t want to go too deep for myself. It was super hot and a long climb, luckily I had enough time to ease up in the last kilometre a little bit and recover.”
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Here's the Critérium du Dauphiné report from second-place Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
With a well-executed offensive strategy, Team Visma | Lease a Bike attempted to blow the race apart in the queen stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Attacks from Victor Campenaerts, Matteo Jorgenson, and Sepp Kuss, combined with a strong ride by Jonas Vingegaard, ultimately earned the Dutch team a second-place finish for the Danish leader. As a result, Vingegaard solidified his position on the overall podium of the French stage race.
Jonas Vingegaard finishes second in the stage. Sirotti photo
A fierce battle among the top contenders unfolded on the slopes of the Col de la Croix de Fer, the penultimate climb of the day. Campenaerts, Jorgenson, and Kuss—who had dropped back from the breakaway—took turns increasing the pace. Heading into the final climb, Team Visma | Lease a Bike managed to create a numerical advantage at the front.
On that final ascent, Tadej Pogačar launched a decisive attack with twelve kilometers to go. Vingegaard had to let go momentarily but refused to crack. He continued at his own pace and held on strongly. At the finish, the gap to Pogačar was around fifteen seconds.
“It was a good ride from us today—we really animated the race as a team”, said Vingegaard afterwards. “I couldn’t follow Tadej’s attack. I chose my own tempo, and I’m happy with how it went. When he accelerated explosively, I had to let a gap open up. Tadej is more than a deserved winner. I saw the numbers I was pushing, and I’m satisfied with that. This race is helping me get better ahead of my big goal. Hopefully, the efforts from this week will allow me to take another step forward toward the Tour de France.”
Head of Racing Grischa Niermann also expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance. “It was a good day for us. Second place turned out to be the maximum achievable, and we saw a strong team effort. So it’s hard not to be pleased. We remain combative—there’s still a lot possible on the final stage. We have three riders in the top ten, so that certainly gives us something to build on”, said the German.
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Here's the Dauphiné report from Carlos Rodriguez's Team INEOS Grenadiers:
Carlos Rodriguez finished ninth on Valmeinier 1800 on the seventh stage of Criterium du Dauphine to move up to ninth on the GC.
The riders tackled three HC climbs across 131.6km in the Alps, and Rodriguez was initially distanced on the Col de la Croix de Fer, the second climb of the day. The Spanish rider fought back on the descent into Saint Marie de Maurienne with 38km to go.
Carlos Rodriguez before the start of stage two. Sirotti photo
The final climb up Valmeinier 1800 saw a battle for the yellow jersey, with Rodriguez fighting to ninth after a tough day in the saddle, and moving up two places on the GC to be inside the top 10.
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And here's the Criterium du Dauphiné report from Team Groupama-FDJ:
Following on from a solid first stage for climbers on Friday, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet once again delivered on Saturday’s queen stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Across three major Alpine climbs, the French climber held his own among the leaders and even went on the attack on the Col de la Croix de Fer halfway through the race. At the summit of Valmeinier 1800, he ultimately took a fine tenth place and gained five places in the overall standings (12th).
The peloton of the Critérium du Dauphiné was facing quite an unusual program this Saturday. Over just 130 kilometres of racing, nearly 5,000 metres of elevation gain were to be covered from Grand-Aigueblanche, in a seventh stage which included the never-ending climbs of the Col de la Madeleine (24.6 km at 6.2%) and the Col de la Croix de Fer (22.4 km at 6.9%) before a summit finish in the Valmeinier 1800 resort (16.5 km at 6.7%), and with barely fifteen kilometres of valley over the entire day.
A very heavy program, therefore, which surely promised a crazy start. The battle was indeed fierce from the first moments and on the first slopes, the peloton immediately flew into pieces, while Clément Braz Afonso fully engaged in the fight for the breakaway. After an unsuccessful first attempt alongside Matteo Jorgenson, the young man returned to the attack and managed to join a very solid breakaway of fifteen riders, including Romain Bardet, Santiago Buitrago, Sepp Kuss, and many others.
The lead group descends the Col de la Madeleine.
The peloton, reduced to just forty riders, barely eased off, as it kept the escape group under a minute and a half away until the bottom of the Col de la Croix de Fer, the second major challenge of the day. In the breakaway, Clément Braz Afonso managed to maintain his position, while within the yellow jersey group, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet seized his opportunity midway up the climb. “We know that against riders like Pogacar, it’s impossible to win,” said the Frenchman. “The only option left for us is to anticipate, which Clément did very well by joining the breakaway. Then, I saw that the gap wasn’t big on the Croix de Fer, and it seemed possible to close the gap. So I went chasing, and I think it was worth a shot. It didn’t handicap me that much for the rest of the race, because I would have had to climb very fast in the yellow jersey group anyway. And it’s always more fun to be on the offensive than to survive the others’ pace.” After fifteen minutes of effort, the Groupama-FDJ leader joined the breakaway and reunited with his young teammate.
“Clément rode a great stage,” Guillaume emphasized. “It was really nice to have him by my side. Let’s remember that at the top of the Croix de Fer, we were down to fifteen riders, including two Groupama-FDJ riders. This shows that he has reached another level, and I know since the weekend in Franche-Comté that he is quite incredible in this domestique role.” “It’s a strong stage for Clément, because it was already not easy to be in this breakaway,” added Benoît Vaugrenard.
“The goal was for him to get over La Croix de Fer to then be able to help Guillaume on the flat, which he did very well. He was really strong. Since the beginning of the year, he is there when we need him, so it’s a great satisfaction.” On the downhill of the Col de la Croix de Fer, Romain Bardet went away solo at the front while the survivors of the breakaway as well as Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet got caught by a very thin yellow jersey peloton. A group of around twenty riders eventually got together behind the leader, who never took more than a minute. This gap quickly narrowed on the final climb, especially when the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar, decided to launch an attack after four kilometres of climbing, almost twelve kilometres from the summit.
The hierarchy then clearly established, and the Groupama-FDJ climber entered a small group that included Carlos Rodriguez, Matteo Jorgenson, and Enric Mas. After a very solid effort, he ultimately secured tenth place of the day, 3’51 behind the winner. “To finish tenth today after what he did in the Croix de Fer shows that he was really strong,” insisted Benoît. “My legs weren’t great at the start of the week, so I wasn’t very ambitious for the weekend,” Guillaume recalled. “But sometimes you have nice surprises. It turns out I’ve been pretty much up there since yesterday, and as is often the case with me, I’m getting better and better on each mountain stage. A top-10 finish on such a stage at this level is not bad, and it’s good to be in the mix. We’ll see in the last stage if there’s a small opportunity regarding the stage win. If not, we’ll try to grab two places in the general classification. It won’t be easy, but to come away with the top-10 is always nice symbolically.”
On Saturday evening, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet indeed sits in twelfth place overall, one minute from the initial goal. “We’re getting close, so we believe in it,” Benoît concluded.
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