2017 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 8 Results & Recap
Stage 8 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
Fuglsang wins Criterium du Dauphine
Astana wins final stage, takes leader jersey from Porte
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) put in the ride of his life on the final day of the Criterium du Dauphine to not only win the stage, but also snatch the overall win from Richie Porte (BMC) by 10 seconds. The 32-year-old Dane accelerated seven km from the HC summit with Daniel Martin (Quickstep-Floors) on Plateau de Solaison and never looked back, putting Denmark into the history books as the first rider to win Dauphine from that country.
“It's amazing, I don't know what to say,” Fuglsang said after the stage. “Even with jersey I can't believe it, I've been close to the yellow jersey many times in my career. We tried to keep our positions on GC and it came down to a big big fight for the overall victory. We planned it very well with Fabio attacking [with Alejandro Valverde in the col de la Colombière] and everything went in our favour. We played really smart. Froome had to pull after Fabio and Valv. I tried to keep cool all day, and without pushing too much I went for the stage win and I got it all. My wife is waiting for a baby. This great victory is for her. There's still a long way to the Tour but I'm really happy with my condition now. I'll have to take it easy onto the Tour. With Fabio we'll form a good couple for the Tour. We'll share the leadership and we have a good team.”
Porte ended up settling for second overall while Martin edged out Chris Froome for the last podium spot by just one second.
How it transpired
A relatively short, but mountainous stage at 115 km meant that the attacks went from the first climb on the Col des Saisies., essentially blowing the race apart from the beginning. Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) was the first to bounce away from a large group of almost 30 riders.
With many riders, especially Porte’s BMC teammates suffering on the second climb, Col des Aravis, Froome saw his moment and laid down repeated attacks to isolate his greatest rival. The Sky rider’s accelerations eventually brought Gallopin back into the yellow jersey group leaving a front group of GC favorites at the front.
On the Cat. 1 Col de la Colombiere, Alejandro Valverde attacked, taking Fabio Aru along with him. The dangerous moved saw Martin, Fuglsang and Romain Bardet lead the first chase group, while Froome and Porte opted to mark each other behind.
At the summit, Froome put in another dig that rid himself of Porte and caught the chase group easily on the descent off Colombiere.
From there, Martin attacked on the Plateau de Solaison taking Fuglsang along and eventually passing the original duo up the road while Porte doggedly tried to limit his losses. Froome couldn’t match his earlier strength and was caught and passed by Porte midway up the climb. After Fuglsang went solo, it was neck and neck between the Dane and the Australian for the yellow jersey, and in the end it was the just the 10 second time bonus which won Fuglsang the overall.
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