June 15/19 12:05 pm - Dauphine Stage 7, Woods in the Break

Posted by Editoress on 06/15/19
 

Wout Poels (Ineos) won stage 7 in the 'eleventh hour' as he reeled in Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Emanuel Buchmann (BORA-hansgrohe) who had attacked in the last two kilometres of the uphill finish to Les Sept Laux-Pipay. Time gaps between the favourites were tight but Fuglsang took over the lead from Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) by the small margin of 8 seconds. It was an epic stage in stormy conditions on the eve of the grand finale in Champéry, Switzerland.

Julian Alaphilippe on the offensive again
132 riders took the start of stage 7 at Saint-Genix-les-Villages with Davide Ballerini (Astana), Jens Debusschere and Mads Würtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin), André Greipel (Arkea-Samsic) and Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) as non-starters. After several unsuccessful attempts, 22 riders took off just after 20km of racing: Gianni Moscon and Dylan van Baarle (Ineos), Jack Haigh and Damian Howson (Mitchelton-Scott), Mikaël Chérel (AG2R-La Mondiale), Julian Alaphilippe and Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Felix Grossschartner (BORA-hansgrohe), Alexey Lutsenko and Magnus Cort (Astana), Jesper Hansen (Cofidis), Ruben Fernandez (Movistar), Lennard Hofstede (Jumbo-Visma), Niklas Eg and Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Woods (EF Education First), Rémy Mertz (Lotto-Soudal), Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida), Joey Rosskopf (CCC), Quentin Pacher (Vital Concept), Kevin Ledanois (Arkea-Samsic) and Rob Power (Sunweb). Woods took 3 seconds of time bonus at the intermediate sprint in Nuances (km 34.5) ahead of virtual race leader Lutsenko who got 2s. At that point, the Mitchelton-Scott team of race leader Adam Yates was two minutes adrift.

Alaphilippe and Hofstede chased down by 27 riders
Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale), Edward Ravasi (UAE Team Emirates), Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Pierre Rolland (Vital Concept-B&B Hôtel) and Jérémy Maison (Arkea-Samsic) joined the leading group on the downhill of the col de l’Épine. After cresting in the first position, Alaphilippe sped up. Only Hofstede was able to pace him. The leading duo was 30s ahead of the 27 chasers and 3m ahead of the peloton in Chambéry (km 56). The maximum deficit of the bunch wwent up to  4:30. Theuns waited for the peloton before the col du Granier where Alaphilippe and Hofstede passed in that order with an advantage of 1:15 over the Lutsenko-group. Hofstede crashed in the downhill but made it back at the bottom. Moscon and Maison rode away from their group. A new chasing group was formed behind lone leader Hofstede when Alaphilippe sat up with 40km to go.  Meanwhile the peloton was timed two minutes adrift.

Wout Poels avenges Chris Froome
20 riders formed the front group in the third climb of the day up to col de Marcieu. Woods and Lutsenko rode away 2km before the summit. It became a leading quintet with 20km to go with Woods, Lutsenko, Chérel, Moscon and Hansen. Just after the top of the climb, Woods flats on the descent and has to chase back to join the leaders.  Power, Cort, Grossschartner and Haig came across to make it a 9-man group at the head as they descended before starting the final climb, 17km before the finish.

Movistar took over from Mitchelton-Scott at the head of the chasing peloton. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) attacked with just over 11km remaining under the pouring rain. Michael Kwiatkowski (Ineos) accompanied him. With 10km to go, Woods, Lutsenko and Hansen opened a gap. Woods and Lutsenko were first joined by Kwiatkowski 7km from the ski resort of Pipay. All GC contenders were together again with 4km to go. Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) attacked with 3.2km remaining. The next to try was Emanuel Buchmann (BORA-hansgrohe) one kilometre further. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) caught him and forced Yates to chase with Bardet, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) and Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) while Wout Poels (Ineos) caught Fuglsang and Buchmann to avenge his leader Chris Froome who quit the race three days before in dramatic circumstances. Poels won stage 7 ahead while Pinot, Dan Martin and Yates finished in that order. Fuglsang took the lead with 8 seconds over Yates one day before the conclusion of the 71st Critérium du Dauphiné.

Leader: Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)
Points: Wout van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma)
KoM: Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step)
Best Young Rider:  Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal)

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