Samoëns 1600 is on the finish line once again Primoz Roglic to raise their arms to the sky. After yesterday’s victory the Slovenian finalizes a splendid job by his teammates and puts a serious claim on the Dauphiné 2024. Mocked Marc Solertaken again at minus 2.1 kilometers from the summit, after a day on the run and a solitary ride of over 40 kilometres. Giulio Ciccone he confirmed himself in great form, finishing third and returning to the top ten in the general classification.
Today marks the collapse of Remco Evenepoel who finishes at 1’46” and definitively abandons his dream of winning this edition of the Giro del Dauphiné. Now Roglic’s main rival seems to be Matthew Jorgenson , second at today’s finish line. For Roglic it is the eighty-third career victory, the third of the season, after yesterday’s stage and the opening time trial at the Tour of the Basque Country.
Tour of the Dauphiné 2024, the chronicle of the seventh stage
The seventh stage of Tour of the Dauphiné 2024, from Albertville to Samoëns 1600, of 155.3 km, is the queen stage of this edition of the French race. This is a fraction from beyond 4300 meters of altitude difference with 3 first category GPMs – the Col des Salaisies (9.4 km at 6.6% average gradient), the Cote d’Araches (6.1 km at 7.1%) and the Col de la Ramaz (13.9 km at 7.1%) – which is followed byfinal ascent “Hors Categorie” in Samoëns 1600, with its 10 km at 9.3%.
Even today the stage opens with the announcement of an illustrious retreat, that of Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), who yesterday arrived at the finish line heavily delayed, followed in the first kilometers by several other runners, including Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) precious wingman of Remco Evenepoel.
It starts uphill and immediately begins a brawl
After several attempts to escape from the main group, at kilometer 22 four men took the lead: Marc Soler (UAE Emirates), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana) e Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon- AG2R World Championship). Meanwhile, the attacks continue in the group. Near the first GPM of the day the four pacesetters also queued up Darren Rafferty (EF Education-Easypost), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Warren Barguil (DSM), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) e Koen Bouwman (Visma-Lease a bike). Worth noting is the desperate attempt to enter the day’s escape by Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-B&B Hotels) eager to defend his polka-dot shirt, the leaders of the climbers’ classification who, together with other adventure companions, remained in a bain-marie between the escapees and the group for the entire first kilometres.
You arrive at the foot of the penultimate climb, the Col de la Ramazwith a group, led by the men of the BORA-Hansgrohe who seems to let it go, granting the fugitives an advantage of more than four minutes. Less than 45 kilometers from the finish line, from the lead of the race he leaves decisively Marc Soler. Lorenzo Fortunato he tries desperately to contain the Spaniard’s attack, but today the UAE rider is in one of his usual days of grace in which it is impossible to keep up with him.
Soler’s victory seems ever closer, with a lead of more than 4’20” at the foot of the final climb over the main group, again led by Primoz Roglic’s BORA men. But the ramps of the Col de Samoëns are really demanding, with long straights constantly above 10% which take their toll on the riders’ legs. The first to pay the price is tenth in the general classification Jack Haigh (Bahrain Victorious) who already after the first kilometers irremediably loses contact with the other men in the ranking. What makes the news, however, is the collapse of Remco Eevenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) which already at less than 7 kilometers from the summit breaks away from a group now made up of around twenty units.
Primoz Roglic’s BORA then begins to force the ball Jay Hindley and with Alexander Vlasov. At least 6 km Giulio Ciccone also tries to take a shy shot (Lidl-Trek), which even today appears brilliant and confident in its capabilities. In the meantime, the day’s escapees are caught up one by one, with Soler appearing increasingly weighed down and who is reached when there are only two kilometers left to the finish line, also following the acceleration of Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
We are now in the final stages and when there are 600 meters left to the finish line it is always the Colombian from Bahrain-Victorious which breaks the deadlock, taking its direct rivals with it. Once the action is exhausted he raises Oier Lazkano (Movistar) who with this move finds himself involuntarily sprinting towards Roglic. The Slovenian takes advantage of this, gets up on the pedals and with his proverbial acceleration he detaches his rivals one by one, reaching the finish line in Samoëns with his arms raised. Just a handful of meters behind he crosses the finish line Matthew Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and a convincing third comes two seconds behind Giulio Ciccone.
Roglic leader of three rankings, final tomorrow at the Plateau des Glières
The general classification on the eve of the last stage sees him in command Primoz Roglicwith Jorgenson second at 1’02” and third an increasingly surprising one Derek Gee (Free Palestine). Collapses to sixth place Evenepoel with 2’15”, while Ciccone climbs the rankings and reaches ninth position at 2’54”. It should be noted that with today’s victory the Slovenian champion not only solidifies his leadership in the general classification, but also takes the lead in the climbers’ classification and in the points classification.
Tomorrow the final stage of the 2024 Tour of the Dauphiné, from Thônes to Plateau des Glièresof 160.6 km, with a final climb of 9.4km at 7.1% average gradient, preceded by two other first category GPMs and one third category.
