The 2022 Criterium du Dauphiné winner is back in command: Primoz Roglic surged in the gruelling final climb to Le Collet d’Allevard to snatch his second stage win on the race and dislodge Belgian arch-rival Remco Evenepoel from the top spot.
On the climb to the Collet d’Allevard, Primož Roglič completed his team-mates’ work perfectly by winning stage 6. It was the first of three mountain top finishes in a row at the Critérium du Dauphiné. With his stage win, Roglič also takes the yellow jersey and goes into the challenging final weekend as the race leader.
Primož Roglič: “As a team, we worked hard right from the first day. During the second stage we worked all day, but it didn’t work out. Yesterday every single one of us took quite a hard hit. I’m really happy with the spirit within the team. We did it together today, and we’ll see how it goes for the next days. It’s just the first of three mountain stages. But everything from now on is a bonus.”
BORA – hansgrohe laid the foundations for the stage win on the approach to the Collet d’Allevard. The team positioned itself perfectly with all seven riders. In the first half of the climb, the group of favourites continued to take shape. Around 20 riders went into the last 5 kilometres. Laurens de Plus attacked there – Aleks Vlasov followed, which turned out to be a key move for the finale. A short time later, Roglič split the chasing group with an increase in speed and caught up with Vlasov. Vlasov continued to accelerate with Roglič on his wheel and together with Giulio Ciccone they set off on the final 1.5 kilometres. Vlasov kept the pace so high to the 300-metre mark that all the chasers were distanced. It was there that Roglič took the lead and 100 metres later launched his sprint to celebrate a confident stage win.
Roglic now leads Evenepoel by 19 seconds and Paris-Nice winner Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a bike) by 58 seconds ahead of the queen stage of this edition to Samoens on Saturday.
STAGE CLASSIFICATION
- Primoz Roglic (BORA-hansgrohe) in 4h19’59”
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) at 03”
- Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe) at 11”
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
- Primoz Roglic (BORA-hansgrohe) in 16h47’44”
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) at 19″
- Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) at 58”
