"We wanted a hard race" - Laurens De Plus confirms INEOS were planning to attack in the final stage of Dauphine

At the foot of the last climb of this year's Critérium du Dauphiné, Plateau des Glières, it seemed like race leader Primoz Roglic and his team had everything well under control, but Ineos Grenadiers were not planning to make BORA-hansgrohe's job any easier.

Fifth before today's stage, Carlos Rodríguez had nothing to lose and thus told his colleague Laurens De Plus to blast the pace soon after the climb started. De Plus quickly reduced the front group to just seven men and when Rodríguez took off only numbers 2 and 3 overall Matteo Jorgenson and Derek Gee were able to keep up.

De Plus analyzed the stage in a press communication afterwards. "It was an amazing performance by the team. I think it was a very hard day. On the final climb it was a good attack by our team, and in the end Carlos benefitted from that. After 2km on the climb he said he felt really good, and that maybe it was a good idea for me to make a hard pacing. After that he was able to go with three guys and finish it off."

But the Belgian's work didn't end here as he continued to fight on behind his Spanish leader. And his efforts paid off. While Rodríguez went on to win the stage and move to fourth overall, De Plus finished fourth, 35 seconds later which was just enough to enter the overall top 5, jumping Aleksandr Vlasov who also didn't have a very good by two seconds. "We wanted a hard race, I think that suited us better. With a high pace all day I think it was in our favour."