PREVIEW | Criterium du Dauphiné 2025 stage 7 - Will Jonas Vingegaard get revenge on Tadej Pogacar in the high mountains?

From the 8th to the 15th of June the riders take on the Criterium du Dauphiné. Not only is this race usually the biggest preview ahead of the Tour de France, but it will also have the presence of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. We preview stage 7.

The queen stage of the race, without a doubt. Whilst very short, it's a stage with three massive mountain passes in the Alps. Each of the climbs are very long and it's a day suited to the pure climbers, where the biggest differences can be made.

Actually, a simple day to describe, with three large ascents and descents. The first of which is the Col de la Croix de Fer, an iconic pass which will here be 24.7 kilometers long at 6%.

After a technical and quite steep the descent the riders are right at the base of the Col de la Madeleine, a relatively shorter but more constant ascent. It is 22.4 kilometers kilometers long at 7% even thought here is a flat section. Most of the climb is very, very hard, the second hour-long ascent of the day which ends with 61 kilometers to go.

The descent here is longer and there will be a flat section still before the ascent to Valmeinier 1800. As the name indicates, that's the finishing altitude - the smallest out of the three. It's a hard one, but also the shortest of the day. The summit finish will create differences however in it's 16.2 kilometers that average 6.8%.

Tadej Pogacar - The World Champion has his form and honestly it will be hard for anyone to remove the yellow jersey from his shoulders. Even with good tactics, numerical superiority, etc... Visma will be unlikely to outplay him simply because his climbing ability appears to be so strong that he should be able to respond to any attack he wants, or drop Vingegaard when he wants. If he shows the same legs, he wins again.

Jonas Vingegaard - The day does suit Vingegaard better than today's finish, and the Dane look very strong, but the level difference is still meaningful. If Visma want to win the race they definitely have to go all-out on the first climb as it'll be the final opportunity to try and take advantage of their numbers and chaos. Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and Ben Tulett all on the attack, and try to put Pogacar under some pressure. On the long climbs, perhaps also try to attack him at Croix de Fer, to see if the fatigue build up during the day can then have it's effect on the final climb.

No matter how good they are - and they are indeed extremely good - I fear none of the other GC contenders stand a chance of winning the stage. But places on the podium and Top10 will be important, and of course that men like Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz have a lot to play for and will be looking to finish as high as possible in what will perhaps be the most important high mountain test before their Tour de France.

We could see a breakaway victory but it would have to be from a pure climber in good form - or on a very good day - such as Kuss himself, Alex Baudin, Santiago Buitrago, Romain Bardet, Clément Berthet or a resurgent Ben Healy. 

*** Tadej Pogacar
** Jonas Vingegaard, Florian Lipowitz
* Santiago Buitrago, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, Remco Evenepoel, Alex Baudin, Paul Seixas, Enric Mas, Carlos Rodríguez, Eddie Dunbar

Pick: Tadej Pogacar

How: Solo win