Paris [France], June 15 (ANI/WAM): With another searing performance, Tadej Pogacar made it two victories in as many days at the Criterium du Dauphine, as he further strengthened his grip on the yellow jersey as race leader.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider attacked with 12km of the final mountain to ride on stage 7, quickly distancing his rivals and going alone to the finish.
As Pogacar made his acceleration, not even Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) could hold the wheel, with the Dane forced into a lengthy but futile pursuit of the world champion.
At first, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) united with Vingegaard to mount a chase, but Vingegaard was too strong for the white jersey holder, and he would ride to second place over the line.
Pogacar, meanwhile, settled into his rhythm and powered his way to the top of Valmeinier 1800 (16.2km at 6.8%). The yellow jersey wearer claimed the 98th victory of his career, extending his advantage in the lead of the race to 1:01 heading into Sunday's final stage.
Earlier in the stage, Visma-Lease a Bike had tried to gain the upper hand on the Emirati squad. Setting a hard pace on the Col de la Croix de Fer, the team of Vingegaard maintained healthy numbers as those by Pogacar's side dwindled. However, there was to be no isolating the world champion, with Pavel Sivakov producing a gritty display to maintain UAE Team Emirates-XRG control on the day.
Pogacar said, "We had our own plan but then Visma started to go full gas on the first category climb and actually before the start, I didn't know, but this climb I definitely did before, and it brought back memories.
"Today we wanted to take control on all the climbs but Visma tried with all the attacks. I was pretty happy with how Pavel was riding today, and the team, so it was a sort of defence not to get attacked by everyone from Visma. I launched it and I maintained a good pace to the top, so I am happy that I could defend the jersey like this.
"Visma attacked towards the top of the Croix de Fer, then I think they wanted to drop me on the downhill. When Pavel came back, he took control again and it was all fine. On the last climb, Pavel said that he could not do much longer so he prepared me for the attack. I just committed because I didn't want any attacks from behind."
Criterium du Dauphine 2025 stage 7 results: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4:10:00, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +14'', Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +1:21.
General classification after Criterium du Dauphine stage 7: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 25:44:58, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1:01, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2:21. (ANI/WAM)
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