Carlos Verona keeps Primoz Roglic at bay to win Stage 6, Slovenian takes Criterium du Dauphine lead from Wout van Aert

Carlos Verona (Movistar) was the last man standing from a breakaway, staying just out of reach of a marauding Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) for his first professional victory, at the age of 29.

On the uphill finish to Vaujany, Roglic did more than enough to take over the team lead and yellow jersey, as Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) proved unable to endure the pace set by the faster, lighter climbers.

Jonas Vinegaard (Jumbo Visma) lost 12 seconds to his team-mate but gained enough ground on the rest for third on the stage and second overall. The Dane’s lack of legs to stay with Roglic should do away with any thoughts of Jumbo Visma sharing leadership between the pair at the Tour de France.

Nasty, brutal and short was an apt description of the Criterium du Dauphine’s Stage 7, which managed to pack almost 4,000m of vertical gain into its 135 horizontal kilometres.

The course offered a dress rehearsal for Stage 12 of next month’s Tour de France. The only real difference was that the Dauphine would not continue on to the notorious Alpe d’Huez.

The stage officially started just five kilometres from the foot of the Col du Galibier. That meant an uphill start and an intermediate sprint just 20km into the stage.

A large group of 29 riders first clipped themselves off the front of the peloton, though they were easily brought back. A little later, a luckier 13 secured what seemed to be a meaningful gap but it too was reined in.

After several unsuccessful attempts to get away, usual suspect Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels) tried once more. This time his efforts paid off. In the polka dot jersey, and in the company of Matteo Fabbro (Bora-Hansgrohe), he pushed on, taking the maximum points at the summit.

Three riders joined them on the descent; then 13 more, for a merry band of 18. Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) was best placed in the general classification. As the break lifted their lead on the road to over three minutes, the Spaniard (briefly) held the virtual race lead.

On the early slopes of the Col de la Croix de Fer, Mark Donovan (Team DSM) decided to go solo, and was able to eke out a lead of just over a minute. On such a long climb, it would not prove sustainable, and the British man was caught with seven kilometres still to climb, and dropped soon after. Meanwhile, four minutes back down the mountain, Christophe Laporte (Jumbo Visma) drove a hard pace at the front of the peloton.

Too hard for his team-mate, certainly, as with 33km remaining of the stage, Van Aert was struggling to stay in touch. Less than a 1000 metres later he slipped its moorings completely. Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep – Alpha Vinyl) fell away soon after, as Roglic became the virtual race leader.

A group of five approached the top of the climb. That then became a duo as Rolland, in the company of Verona, refused to settle for less than maximum mountains points.

His day done, the peloton having halved the break’s advantage, Rolland switched places with Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) on the descent and left the pair to battle it out for the stage win.

On the low slopes of the Vaujany, 5.2km from home, Verona pushed on and Elissonde began to struggle. The Spaniard was a minute ahead of the peloton but behind they were only just getting warmed up.

1500m from the finish was where Roglic went into predator mode. He would surely take yellow but was there enough road for him to win the stage as well?

Verona looked concerned as team and organisation cars flew by. He glanced over his shoulder and would have been relieved not to see an onrushing Slovenian. Only 50 metres from the line could he be confident of victory. A worthy, hard-fought first win after more than a decade of trying.

General Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 22:22:08s
2. Jonas Vinegaard (Jumbo Visma) +0:44s
3. Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) +1:24s
4. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:30s
5. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +1:32s
6. David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) +1:40s
7. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) +2:05s
8. Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) +2:06s
9. Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) +2:12s
10. Louis Meintjes (Intermarche – Wanty – Gobert) +2:16s