Critérium du Dauphiné: Carlos Verona wins stage seven as Primoz Roglic takes dominant lead on GC

The Critérium du Dauphiné saw the riders head into the mountains for the first day, with the overall classification having a separation of water as Primoz Roglic took over the race lead with a dominant performance. The breakaway succeeded, as Carlos Verona surged to the stage win in Vaujany.

With the riders having to tackle the Col du Galibier early on in the day, it proved a hard start. The breakaway was settled before the ascent though, with a group of 18 riders going up the road - albeit with no threats for the overall classification. On the slopes of the Col de la Croix de Fer the group started splitting apart, with Kenny Elissonde, Carlos Verona, Victor Lafay, Pierre Rolland and Gregor Mühlberger going over the summit in front.

Lack of collaboration saw the group further split, with Elissonde and Verona distancing the rest and heading into the final climb with a gap of just under two minutes - where Verona quickly went into a solo lead.

The peloton saw some pace making by Uno-X and Groupama on the ascent, with Damiano Caruso later trying to attack the ascent but with little impact. It was all up for the final ascent where Groupama tried to set a high pace but with no success, it was Jonas Vingegaard himself who attacked and then paced the surviving GC contenders up the final kilometers with Primoz Roglic riding alongside him.

Verona just barely managed to survive in front, taking an important win for himself and Movistar. Roglic easily distanced rivals on the late slopes of the climb to take time and the yellow jersey, arriving second on the day, and Jonas Vingegaard sprinted to third from behind.