2017 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 7 Results & Recap
Stage 7 of the 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Kennaugh wins on Alpe d’Huez
Porte expands lead in yellow jersey
Isle of Man’s Peter Kennaugh took victory on the queen stage of Critérium du Dauphiné today after riding away from the early break with Ben Swift (UAE Team Emirates) on the summit of col de Sarenne.\n \n“This is incredible,” Kennaugh said after the stage. “It's always hard to win a mountain stage but I have good form ahead of July. It took us a while to make the break, but once the front group was established I knew I had a good chance. I targeted the top of col de Sarenne. Chapeau to Ben Swift for having stayed with me up there. Initially he was going to help [Diego] Ulissi. We've known each other since we were nine years old so I knew he's someone able to climb. I wasn't confident I was going to beat him in a sprint. I had to get rid of him, which I did. To win at L'Alpe d'Huez is better than being an Olympic champion.”
Richie Porte retained his yellow jersey after putting a dig into Chris Froome with one kilometre to go on the Alpe d’Huez. Alberto Contador tried to follow but couldn’t find the legs, leaving yesterday’s stage winner, Jakob Fuglsang, as the only rider to follow the Australian’s pace. Porte now leads Froome by 1 minute and 2 seconds ahead of the last stage of the Dauphine.
“Attack was the best form of defense in the finale. My team just incredibly covered the moves of the best riders beforehand. They did a fantastic work. But we can't be complacent. I expect fireworks tomorrow. It'll be a short stage. It's not over until it's over, but my team is incredibly strong so I want to finish it off for them.”
How it transpired.
158 starters took to the line for the 168km stage of the Criterium du Dauphine, starting in Aoste and finishing on L'Alpe d'Huez.
It took 35 kilometres for the break to establish itself, and when it did it contained 17 riders. Kennaugh instigated the move on the first climb, côte de Berland.
The break included: Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale), Jesús Herrada (Movistar), Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Soudal), Ignatas Konovalovas (FDJ), Maurits Lammertink (Katusha-Alpecin), Lennard Hofstede (Team Sunweb), Antonio Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Simon Clarke (Cannondale Drapac Team), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), Scott Thwaites (Team Dimension Data), Ben Swift (UAE Team Emirates), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Delio Fernández (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Mauro Finetto (Delko Marseille Provence KTM).
Over the course of the day, Bouwman padded his lead in the King of the Mountains competition by getting to the top of col de Cucheron and the col de Porte first.
“I'm having the best week of my cycling life so far,” Bouwman said. “I came to the Dauphiné with the aim of breaking away once or twice but I've done it four times already, I've won a stage and I'm wearing the polka dot jersey. It's been another really good day for me today. We could earn a lot of points for the polka dot jersey this weekend. I was already leading the competition but it was clear that I had to be at least one time in the break this weekend. Lots of riders wanted to attack. It made the first 40km really hard. 15 guys went away and I managed to rejoin them. It was a hard move but it was good that I made it. Then I could wrap twenty points. After the last category climb, I rode easy to the finish thinking that if it's necessary, tomorrow I want to be in the break again.”
The break was allowed a maximum of six minutes about 100 km into the race. On the col de Sarenne, Fernandez, Vanderdert and Kennaugh separated from the splintering group, and eventually Herrada, Swift and Ulissi bridged up to them, making it a six man group.
Over the top of Sarenne, Kennaugh and Swift took off again and rode together until Kennaugh made his final acceleration.\n
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