Cycling: Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) won the queen stage of the 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné. The 27-year-old was the strongest rider in what was originally a lead group of over 50 riders and won as a soloist ahead of Ben Swift (UAE) and Jesus Herrada (Movistar). Overall leader Richie Porte (BMC) confirmed his top form and distanced all co-favorites on the final climb — including Chris Froome (Sky).
Day of Truth at this year's Critérium du Dauphiné. Today it was 168km from Aosta to Alpe d'Huez and the extremely heavy profile was made to put the legs of the climbers and favorites to a hard test three weeks before the start of the tour. It was fought almost from the start with hard drums and a group of almost 20 riders formed on the Côte de Berland. However, drivers kept falling back into the field and others joined them. In the meantime, the group even swelled to almost 50 riders.
In addition to climbing specialists such as Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R), the later winner Peter Kennaugh and his compatriot Ben Swift were also there. In this constellation, the events then leveled off gradually and the escapees were able to open the gap to more than six minutes in the meantime. But on the penultimate climb, the Col de Sarenne, the race exploded. The leading group broke up and individual drivers from the peloton tried to take the opportunity and close the gap. Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) and Romain Bardet (AG2R) also succeeded - Bardet then immediately attacked together with his teammate Alexis Vuillermoz, but the counterattack by the two Brits Ben Swift and Peter Kennaugh was successful - the Sky-UAE alliance worked and that's how it was it also Swift and Kennaugh, who were the first to reach the summit.
Already at the foot of the final climb up to Alpe d'Huez, however, Kennaugh showed that he was the stronger of the two Brits and drove away alone. In the peloton, Sky tried to put Richie Porte under pressure with her typically dominant driving style. However, the wearer of the yellow jersey showed strong nerves and didn't let himself be thrown off stride at all - on the contrary. Shortly after the 2km mark, the Australian launched an extremely powerful attack and left almost all of the favorites standing - only Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) was able to keep up with Porte, while Aru, Contador and Froome were only left with damage limitation.
In the end, Peter Kennaugh deservedly won ahead of Ben Swift and Jesus Herrada. Richie Porte not only defended his yellow jersey, he even stole valuable seconds from his competitors. Emanuel Buchmann (BORA-hansgrohe) also underlined his very good form, defended his white jersey and crossed the finish line together with the Valverde and Froome group.
However, nothing is decided before the last day of the Dauphiné - the difficult 115km offer more than enough opportunities for Froome, Valverde, Aru and Contador to put Porte under pressure again.
Final result Critérium du Dauphiné Stage #7
Tour Locations | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Peter Kennaugh | GBR | TeamSky | 04:43:59 |
2 | Ben Swift | GBR | UAE Team Emirates | 00:00:13 |
3 | Jesus Herrada Lopez | ESP | Movistar Team | 00:01:11 |
4 | Jelle Vanendert | BEL | Lotto Soudal | 00:01:13 |
5 | Romain Bardet | FRA | AG2R La Mondiale | 00:01:14 |
6 | Richie porte | AUS | BMC Racing Team | 00:01:56 |
7 | Jakob Fuglsang | THE | Team Astana | |
8 | Andrew Talansky | USA | Cannondale Drapac | 00:02:04 |
9 | Alberto Contador Velasco | ESP | Trek-Segafredo | |
10 | Fabio Arau | ITA | Team Astana | 00:02:13 |
Overall classification Critérium du Dauphiné after stage #7
Tour Locations | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Richie porte | AUS | BMC Racing Team | 01:38:29 |
2 | Christopher Froome | GBR | TeamSky | 00:01:02 |
3 | Jakob Fuglsang | THE | Team Astana | 00:01:15 |
4 | Fabio Arau | ITA | Team Astana | 00:01:41 |
5 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte | ESP | Movistar Team | 00:01:43 |
6 | Romain Bardet | FRA | AG2R La Mondiale | 00:02:07 |
7 | Alberto Contador Velasco | ESP | Trek-Segafredo | 00:02:15 |
8 | Daniel Martin | IRL | Quick Step Floors | 00:02:31 |
9 | Emmanuel Buchman | GER | Bora Hansgrohe | 00:02:53 |
10 | Andrew Talansky | USA | Cannondale Drapac | 00:03:43 |
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