Pogacar wins third stage to extend Dauphine lead
Tadej Pogacar is a three-time Tour de France winner
- Published
Tadej Pogacar extended his lead in the Criterium du Dauphine with a third stage victory.
The reigning Tour de France and world champion went clear 12km from the finish on the final ascent on the 132km queen stage from Grand-Aigueblanche to Valmeinier.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Pogacar finished 14 seconds ahead of closest rival Jonas Vingegaard in second.
Pogacar, who took the yellow jersey with a dominant victory on stage six on Friday, holds a lead of one minute one second over Vingegaard going into Sunday's final stage.
"I launched it and maintained a good pace to the top," said Pogacar after securing his 98th career stage win, moving ahead of French sprinter Arnaud Demare for the most by an active rider.
"Today Jonas was really strong. I did not want to go too deep myself. It was a super hot and long climb.
"Luckily I had enough time to ease up in the last kilometres and recovered."
Florian Lipowitz, who finished third on the stage, is 2mins 21secs behind Pogacar, while Remco Evenepoel, fourth overall, lost more time and is 4mins 11secs back.
The Dauphine - a traditional warm-up for the Tour de France, which begins on 5 July - concludes with another mountainous stage covering 133.3km from Val-d'Arc to the Plateau du Mont-Cenis.
CORRECTION: The first edition of this story incorrectly reported that Tadej Pogacar had won two stages of the Dauphine
Stage seven results
1. T Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4hrs 10mins 0secs,
2. J Vingegaard (Den/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +14secs,
3. F Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +1min 21secs
4. T Halland Johannessen (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) +2mins 26secs
5. R Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal Quick-Step) +2mins 39secs
6. B Tulett (GB/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +3mins 48secs
7. E Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) same time
8. E Buchmann (Ger/Cofidis) +3mins 51secs
9. C Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) same time
10. G Martin-Guyonnet (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) same time
General classification after stage seven
1. T Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 25hrs 44mins 58secs
2. J Vingegaard (Den/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 1sec
3. F Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2mins 21 secs
4. R Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal Quick-Step) +4mins 11secs
5. T Halland Johannessen (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) +5mins 55secs
6. P Seixas (Fra/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) +6mins 50secs
7. M Jorgenson (USA/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +7mins 18secs
8. B Tulett (GB/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +7 mins 24 secs
9. C Rodriguez (Spa/INEOS Grenadiers) +7mins 41secs
10. E Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) +7mins 43 secs