The Slovenian cycling star Primoz Roglic has taken the overall lead on the queen’s stage of the Dauphiné and is about to achieve his first success in the traditional tour dress rehearsal.
The 32-year-old from Team Jumbo-Visma came second in the victory of the Spaniard Carlos Verona (Movistar) after an immensely hard 134.8 km at the mountain finish in Vaujany and replaced his teammate Wout Van Aert in the yellow jersey.
The three-time Vuelta winner Roglic was 13 seconds behind Verona after riding over the notorious Tour passes Col du Galibier (2620 m) and Col de la Croix de Fer (2068 m).
Roglic goes into the final stage on Sunday with a 44-second lead over the Danish Tour runner-up Jonas Vingegaard, also a Jumbo Visma driver. This ends after 138.8 km with a difficult mountain finish on the Plateau de Salaison.
As the best German, the Berlin veteran Simon Geschke (Cofidis) came in 21st place and thus moved up to the same place in the overall ranking.
The former Tour dominator Chris Froome no longer competed in the stage. The 37-year-old Brit from the Israel-Premier Tech team got out sick. Froome’s participation in the tour, who has not been able to get back to his old top form since his serious fall at the Dauphine in 2019, seems increasingly questionable.
Many top riders use the mountain-heavy Dauphine as a test run for the Tour de France, which begins on July 1 in Copenhagen.
Tour title defender Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) will not be back in action until next week in the tour of his home country after a break of around two months.