Primoz Roglic has warmed up for his Tour de France, which he is among the favorites to win next month, by getting his hands on the Critérium du Dauphiné for the first time in his career.
His teammate at Jumbo-Visma, Jonas Vingegaard, won the eighth and final mountain stage. The two cyclists crossed the wire hand in hand at the top of the Solaison plateau. Roglic allowed Vingegaard to pass his wheel in front to win the stage.
Vingegaard finished 40 seconds behind Roglic in the overall standings. Australian Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citröen) finished third, one minute 41 seconds behind Roglic.
Jumbo-Visma was brilliant on the final ascent. Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk accelerated to split the lead group. This allowed his two teammates to break away on the last climb of the 135 km course between Saint-Chaffrey and Vaujany, which had two monstrous climbs of 23 and 29 km.
Roglic and Vingegaard both finished in 3:49:20, 15 seconds ahead of O’Connor.
Winner of the last three Vueltas, Roglic has not yet savored victory in the Tour de France. This year, he also won Paris-Nice for the first time, notably with the help of a brilliant attack in the last stage.
Vingegaard will again be part of Roglic’s close guard for the Grande Boucle, disputed from 1er to July 24.
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