Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) triumphed in stage 6* of the Critérium du Dauphiné today, winning atop Le Collet d’Allevard to not only claim the day’s honors, but also secured the yellow jersey after distancing overnight leader Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) in the closing kilometers.
Meanwhile, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Roglič’s teammate Aleksandr Vlasov, who played a key role in delivering the Slovenian to victory, rounded out the podium.
Evenepoel watched his 33-second lead evaporate in the face of the Bora-Hansgrohe attack. Despite a tremendous fight to the line, the Belgian lost 43 seconds, dropping to second place at 19 seconds down in the general classification.
Race Highlights
From the flag, six riders parted with the peloton – Magnus Cort (Uno-X), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Arjen Livyns (Lotto Dtsny), Mason Hollyman (Israel-Premier Tech), Alessandro Fancellu (Q36.5). The peloton resisted for a few kilometers but finally let the break go and it gradually increased, to reach 3:45 at the top of the first climb, on which Guernalec picked a point (km 36.1). Alex Kirsch (Lidl-Trek) and Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny) called it quits after an hour of racing.
Crash in the descent
The six worked perfectly together and their lead reached a maximum of 5:55 after 105 km. The intermediate sprint of the day (Les Echelles, km 105.3) was won by Magnus Cort, who collected 10 points and moved provisionally to the top of the points standings on 41 points. On Col du Granier (2nd cat, Km 129.4), Guernalec was in the lead ahead of Gergoire, but the Arkea-B&B Hotels rider and Hollyman missed a corner in the descent and crashed. They were both back on their bikes but struggled to make it back to the front.
Gregoire on his own
There was another fright for the escapees as they went the wrong way with 30 km to go but were quickly back on the course and did not lose too much time on the peloton, which had split briefly in the descent. The five escapees only had 1:30 left as they tackled the final climb and Romain Gregoire attacked from the bottom, followed by Magnus Cort. At the back, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a bike) were among the first leaders to be dropped. With 8 km to go, stage 1 winner Cort finally lost ground, leaving his French breakaway companion on his own in the front.
Roglič takes over
Ineos Grenadiers seized the reins at the front of the pack in the last 8 km and Gregoire’s lead gradually dwindled. With 5 km to go, Laurens de Plus attacked, followed by Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe). Two kilometers later, Roglic, Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Ciccone, Jorgenson and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) went up a gear and dropped yellow and blue jersey holder Remco Evenepoel. With two kilometers to go Ciccone and Roglic made it back on De Plus and Vlasov, who decided to work for his leader and lead the way into the finale. Perfectly led out, Roglic easily dropped Ciccone in the final stretch to snatch his second stage victory on the Dauphiné, a race he won in 2022. Evenepoel crossed the line 42 seconds behind the Slovenian.
* stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné was canceled by race officials due to a mass crash
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