After a hard-fought day within the mountains, Carlos Rodríguez emerged victorious on the ultimate stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné atop the Plateau des Glières. The Ineos Grenadiers rider attacked on the ultimate climb after a tough activate the entrance from his teammate Laurens De Plus and went away with Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) within the finale, distancing the general race chief Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe).
With all of them searching for time within the normal classification, they labored properly collectively to increase their hole over the maillot jaune. Gee survived for so long as he might, however was unable to carry the wheel of the opposite two riders, that means that it could come all the way down to a two-man dash within the closing few hundred metres.
Jorgenson, who sat in second place within the normal classification at the beginning of the day, went to the entrance within the closing kilometre to attempt to acquire as a lot time as doable on Roglič. Rodríguez then seized his alternative to return across the American rider to take the victory, as Jorgenson had nothing left to contest the stage win.
Behind, Roglič had simply accomplished sufficient to hold on for the general victory, with the hole between him and Jorgenson coming down to only eight seconds as soon as bonus seconds for the stage have been taken under consideration.
Talking in his post-race interview, Roglič mirrored on the week as an entire, as he mentioned “trying to myself, it has been fairly loopy. To have the ability to win the Dauphiné with all the issues that occurred in between, it’s stunning”.
On whether or not he was struggling on the stage, he went on to say “I’ve been for the final three days, so it’s positively one thing we wanted as a group”.
When requested on how he’s feeling forward of the Tour de France, he replied “one is the Dauphiné, the opposite is the Tour. To begin with I simply wish to be completely happy and actually benefit from the second, as a result of it’s not daily that you simply win races like this”.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
A number of groups have been keen on getting up the highway at the beginning of the day, as a breakaway of 11 riders fashioned on the primary categorised climb of the day. Included in that group have been Marc Soler and Tim Wellens (UAE Group Emirates), Bruno Armirail and Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto Dstny), Sean Quinn (EF Schooling-EasyPost) and Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan).
Fortunato took most factors on the primary two climbs of the day to maneuver into the lead of the mountains classification forward of Primož Roglič, which he would cling on to for the remainder of the stage to take the maillot à pois.
The breakaway labored properly collectively, however they have been by no means allowed rather more than 4 minutes of a bonus by the peloton. Nevertheless, after a protracted valley the riders hit the slopes of Le Salève and the hole to these on the head of the race instantly started to return down. Some within the entrance group then started to wrestle, with Fortunato the primary to be dropped together with Prodhomme a couple of kilometres later, and it was not lengthy earlier than they have been caught by the peloton.
Soler took the utmost factors excessive of Le Salève, however with 50km to go their hole had been introduced all the way down to beneath two minutes and a few within the group nearly seemed resigned to the truth that they’d be caught.
As they arrived on the foot of the ultimate climb to Plateau des Glières, Bora-Hansgrohe had come to the entrance of the peloton, with Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers in good place within the bunch. The hole to the breakaway had been introduced all the way down to beneath thirty seconds and one-by-one they have been being caught by the peloton.
An assault by Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) with round 8km to go noticed the final of the breakaway riders caught because the motion foremost group actually started to start out. The Italian seemed to increase his benefit as Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) continued to set the tempo within the peloton in service of Roglič.
The hole sat at round fifteen seconds when Laurens De Plus started to extend the tempo on the entrance of the group forward of an impending Carlos Rodríguez assault. The tempo set by the Belgian shortly noticed Ciccone caught and was an excessive amount of for the likes of Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Fast-Step) additionally distanced as the choice started to be made.
Rodríguez then made his transfer with simply over 5km to go, with Matteo Jorgenson instantly on the Spaniard’s wheel, while Derek Gee waited earlier than bridging throughout. Roglič was unable to observe and was clearly beneath strain from these on the head of the race.
The trio on the entrance labored collectively to try to construct a sizeable hole over the Slovenian, with Jorgenson doing nearly all of the work as he stood to achieve. Gee and Rodríguez additionally labored properly, as they have been within the stage win and if these behind them continued to crack then the time taken may very well be precious when it comes to the final classification.
Gee then started to lose the wheel with 1.5km to go and it seemed like it could be a two-man battle to the end for the stage win, however Jorgenson continued to press on within the hopes that he might snatch away the maillot jaune from Roglič, who was persevering with to progressively concede time.
As they reached the ultimate few hundred metres, it was clear that Jorgenson had nothing left in spite of everything of his efforts and Rodríguez got here round him pretty simply to take the stage win. Gee restricted his losses to only a handful of seconds to safe his place on the ultimate podium, however the consideration instantly shifted to Roglič additional down the highway, as he gave the whole lot that he had left in reserve to energy to the road and seal the general victory by eight seconds.
RESULTS: CRITÉRIUM DU DAUPHINÉ 2024, STAGE EIGHT, THÔNES > PLATEAU DES GLIÈRES (161KM)
1. Carlos Rodriguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, in 4:18:02
2. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, at similar time
3. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +15s
4. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers, +35s
5. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, at similar time
6. Primož Roglič (Slo) Bora-Hansgrohe, +48s
7. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, at similar time
8. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step, +58s
9. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe, at similar time
10. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Fast-Step, +1:10
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE EIGHT
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 25:35:40
2. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8s
3. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +36s
4. Carlos Rodriguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:00
5. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:04
6. Aleksandr Vlasov Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:06
7. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step, +2:25
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:54
9. Oier Lazkano (Esp) Movistar, at similar time
10. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Fast-Step, +4:13
