Criterium du Dauphine 2019 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE]

June 15, 2019

Critérium du Dauphiné 2019 – Stage 7 – Saint-Genix-les-Villages – Les Sept Laux-Pipay : 133 km

The headliners for this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné (June 9-15) include four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Ineos). The British rider missed last year’s Dauphiné owing to his Giro d’Italia ambitions but he returns to familiar territory with a team capable of taking overall honours for the seventh time in nine editions.

Wout Poels took an emotional win at the rain-soaked Criterium du Dauphine as the race finally headed into the high mountains, waving his arms in joy and satisfaction before dedicating his victory to Team Ineos and Chris Froome, who crashed dramatically as he and Poels studied the time trial stage on Wednesday.

Poels, like at everyone in the sport, had been shocked by the severity of Froome’s crash and the multiple fractures that needed long hours of surgery. Froome will miss the Tour de France but Poels’ fight back and stage victory showed that Team Ineos have no intentions of abdicating their Grand Tour crown.

“It’s really nice for the team and it’s a gift for Chris [Froome] also,” Poels said.

“I felt pretty strong all day. The team did an amazing job. 500 metres before the line, I thought it would be difficult to catch the two guys away but in the last corner I came and just round over them. It’s very nice to win here.”

Poels came from behind in the final kilometre of the 133km stage to catch to Les Sept Laux-Pipay and pass Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), who had gone away earlier in the 19km Montée de Pipay climb to the finish. Poels surged across the gap and cut under the two inside the final five hundred metres. It was his first victory of 2019.

Fuglsang and Buchmann finished one second behind Poels, with Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) in a select GC chase group at ten seconds. Fuglsang was disappointed to miss out on the stage victory but the time bonus for second place helped him take the leader’s yellow jersey from Yates with only Sunday’s final mountain stage to Champery left to race.

Fuglsang now leads Yates by eight seconds, with Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) third overall at 20 seconds after a strong performance by the American. Buchman is fourth overall at 21 seconds, with Poels moving up to fifth at 28 seconds. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) both lost contact in the finale, losing 46 seconds and slipping out of the top ten overall.

Riders in the storm

The riders started the stage in the sun of the valley but the clouds turned dark and then the heavens opened, soaking the riders on the final two climbs. Fortunately the worst conditions occurred before the riders reached the 1561m-high finish, meaning they avoided the hailstone and pouring rain.

“When we started, it looked like it was going to be a nice day. We were hoping for a good weather the whole day but in the last climb it was so cold… Half of me was just saying ‘okay let’s get to the finish as fast as possible”, that was the only thing I wanted to do,” Fuglsang explained.

“I’m happy with the jersey and I hope to defend it tomorrow although the last day is going to be a difficult day. The short format will make it a hard and interesting racing with the jersey, it might not be as enjoyable as when I won the Dauphiné two years ago. I took the jersey on the last day.”

The stage was only 133km long but included four major climbs. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) made it worse for his rivals by going on the attack from the start in pursuit of points for the blue polka-dot mountains jersey. He was soon joined by others, with a group of 29 eventually going away.

The peloton was over four minutes behind at one point, with Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) the virtual race leader. He was only 30 seconds down on Yates and was one of the strongest in the attack. After taking maximum points on the first two climbs, Alaphilippe eased up but the other pressed on.

However the Mitchelton-Scott team did some hard work to lead the chase and Movistar set a fierce tempo on the first part of the final 19km climb to set up leader Nairo Quintana. The Colombian went on the attack halfway up the climb but Michal Kwiatkowski went with him, revealing the Colombian did not have the legs to win the stage. The attack ended the hopes of the break, with Lutsenko and Michael Woods (EF Education First) pulled back with five kilometre to go.

Fuglsang went on the offensive at this point, with Buchmann impressing and riding with him. They ground out a gap as Yates played a waiting game, perhaps knowing he was on the limit. Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) tried to close the gap to Fuglsang and Buchmann but the GC riders toyed with each other, allowing Fuglsang to push on and stay away. Only Poels had the courage and late surge to go across the gap, giving him the stage victory and Fuglsang the yellow jersey.

Results :
1 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Ineos 4:01:34
2 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:01
3 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:10
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates
6 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:13
8 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First 0:00:16
9 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:30
10 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:34
11 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:46
12 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First
13 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
14 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
15 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:58
16 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
17 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert 0:01:16
18 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:01:45
19 Warren Barguil (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
20 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
21 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
22 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team
23 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Ineos
24 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos 0:03:20
25 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:49
26 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
27 Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:04:03
28 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
29 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
30 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
31 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:28
32 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:05:31
33 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:07:31
34 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos 0:09:01
35 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:09:28
36 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:13
37 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:11:56
38 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
39 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First 0:12:57
40 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:13:10
41 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team 0:14:06
42 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
43 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
44 Jérémy Maison (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
45 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
46 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
47 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
48 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:15:05
49 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:16:07
50 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel 0:16:08
51 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
52 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 0:16:10
53 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:17:49
54 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team 0:18:03
55 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:19:44
56 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
57 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:19:51
58 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team 0:20:16
59 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty-Gobert
60 Hernando Bohorquez (Col) Astana Pro Team
61 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb
62 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
63 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team
64 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:21:20
65 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty-Gobert
66 Laurens ten Dam (Ned) CCC Team 0:21:23
67 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team 0:21:28
68 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:21:53
69 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
70 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida
71 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Ineos
72 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
73 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
74 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:23:01
75 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:24:18
76 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
77 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
78 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
79 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
80 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
81 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
82 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
83 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data
84 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
85 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb
86 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
87 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
88 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
89 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
90 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First
91 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Lotto Soudal
92 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
93 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
94 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
95 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
96 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
97 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
98 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First
99 Florian Vachon (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
100 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
101 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
102 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
103 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
104 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
105 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
106 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
107 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team
108 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
109 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
110 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team
111 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel 0:26:35
112 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
DNF Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNS Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
DNS Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
DNS Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Yoann Bagot (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Maxime Cam (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert
DNS André Greipel (Ger) Arkéa Samsic
DNS Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb

General Classification after Stage 7 :
1 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 27:36:40
2 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:08
3 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First 0:00:20
4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:21
5 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Ineos 0:00:28
6 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:32
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:33
8 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:12
9 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:20
10 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:21
11 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:24
12 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:38
13 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
14 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First 0:02:24
15 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert 0:03:13
16 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:17
17 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:05:29
18 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida 0:05:49
19 Warren Barguil (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 0:06:15
20 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:06:53
21 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:07:14
22 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:08:00
23 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:08:44
24 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:09:18
25 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:10:16
26 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:11:50
27 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:11:51
28 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:14:20
29 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First 0:14:57
30 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:16:12
31 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:19:03
32 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:20:06
33 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Ineos 0:20:48
34 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos 0:22:49
35 Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:23:16
36 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:24:33
37 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:26:31
38 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:27:02
39 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:27:27
40 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team 0:27:45
41 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos 0:28:31
42 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team 0:28:40
43 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:29:31
44 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:31:07
45 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:31:41
46 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team 0:32:45
47 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data 0:33:47
48 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team 0:33:53
49 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:34:37
50 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty-Gobert 0:34:58
51 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:35:27
52 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:35:49
53 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:36:28
54 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:36:32
55 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team 0:39:53
56 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:41:52
57 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:42:05
58 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:42:07
59 Jérémy Maison (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 0:42:36
60 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:43:26
61 Hernando Bohorquez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:43:47
62 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:44:36
63 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 0:44:51
64 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:44:54
65 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:45:03
66 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team 0:45:08
67 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 0:45:40
68 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team 0:45:59
69 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:46:54
70 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:47:45
71 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:47:57
72 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:48:23
73 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:48:38
74 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty-Gobert 0:49:15
75 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:50:59
76 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida 0:51:14
77 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:51:32
78 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel 0:52:06
79 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data 0:53:25
80 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel 0:53:57
81 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 0:54:28
82 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:54:41
83 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First 0:54:42
84 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team 0:55:04
85 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:55:40
86 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:55:58
87 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:56:58
88 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:57:17
89 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:57:49
90 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:57:57
91 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:59:09
92 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:59:28
93 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 1:00:19