Criterium du Dauphine 2024: Primoz Roglic survives real scare to win Maillot Jaune ahead of Matteo Jorgenson as Carlos Rodriguez takes final stage

Primoz Roglic has survived a real scare on the final stage of the 2024 Criterium du Dauphine. Despite a time loss on the final stage, as Carlos Rodriguez took the win ahead of Matteo Jorgenson, the Slovenian just about saved his Maillot Jaune

A strong 11-man group managed to get clear of the peloton on the early climbs. Included in the group were the likes of Bart Lemmen, Marc Soler, Tim Wellens, Bruno Armirail, Nicolas Prodhomme, David Gaudu, Lorenzo Fortunato, Omar Fraile, Guillaume Martin, Eduardo Sepulveda and Sean Quinn.

Somewhat curiously, given they had Fraile in the break and their best placed rider was Carlos Rodriguez, who started the day in 5th, it was the INEOS Grenadiers who were doing the majority of the work on the front of the peloton. So hard were INEOS riding that over the penultimate climb, more than two minutes were taken from the time gap, with the leading group of now 9 riders 1:47 ahead as the descent towards the final climb of the day began.

As Lidl-Trek and BORA - hansgrohe took over at the front of the bunch, that time gap dropped further on the descent and subsequent false flat. Heading into the final 10 kilometres, just 36 seconds separated the two leading groups. Once the climbing began, it was Tiesj Benoot of the Team Visma | Lease a Bike was on the front of the GC group, picking up the remainder of the breakaway.

With 8.2km to go, Giulio Ciccone became the first of that group to attack. A few moments later, the Italian had picked up and passed the likes of David Gaudu, Guillaume Martin and Sean Quinn to be the leader on the road. Having started the day 2:54 down on Roglic, that kind of swing was unlikely, but the stage win was up for grabs for the Lidl-Trek leader.

Behind, Laurens De Plus was doing the chasing for INEOS, working in service of Carlos Rodriguez and absolutely ripping apart what remained of the leaders group. With 5.5km to go, Ciccone was caught, but De Plus did not relent, continuing to set an infernal tempo on the front of the group. Then, with just over 5km to go, Rodriguez himself made an attack. Matteo Jorgenson was straight on the back wheel, as was Derek Gee and Santiago Buitrago. Notably though, Primoz Roglic was in trouble.

Noticing the situation, Jorgenson, who started the day second at 1:02 took to the front of the leaders group and started to push on. Proving strongest of the attackers, Gee, Jorgenson and Rodriguez began to pull away. The time gap was steady to Roglic at around 15-20 seconds, so not enough to change over the Maillot Jaune just yet as they entered the final 3km.

When Jorgenson launched his final brutal acceleration, only Rodriguez could follow the American. With 10 bonus seconds on offer, the sprint for the win could prove crucial. Rodriguez won that, Jorgenson second with Gee a little further back in third. The time was ticking for Roglic however, and in a thrilling finale, the Slovenian just about managed to do enough to save his overall lead and take a second Dauphine title.

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