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Primož Roglič in the yellow jersey during stage 8 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné.

Dauphiné wrap-up: Roglič wins pre-Tour test by the skin of his teeth

Matteo Jorgenson joins Roglič on the podium, along with GC revelation Derek Gee in third.

Primož Roglič won the Dauphiné earlier this month, but it was close.

Kit Nicholson
by Kit Nicholson 09.06.2024 Photography by
Cor Vos
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It almost fell apart in the eleventh hour, but Primož Roglič achieved what he set out to do in the build-up to the Tour de France with overall victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné, fending off Paris-Nice winner Matteo Jorgenson and GC revelation Derek Gee. Remco Evenepoel meanwhile set about racing himself into form in the mountains, eventually finishing seventh after taking a statement victory in the stage 4 time trial.

An unfortunate major talking point by the end of the Dauphiné was the attrition rate. This was partly down to the disastrous crash on stage 5, but there were also illnesses, Covid-19 positives, and the simple desire to preserve form for some in the final weekend. Big names forced home included Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and up-and-coming underdog GC contender Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla).

One team that was completely unaffected by illness or injury though was Bora-Hansgrohe, which brought seven of their eight riders destined for the Tour. For seven beautiful days, their dress rehearsal couldn’t have gone any better, but it was desperately close to ending in disaster.

Brief stage-by-stage results:

  1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
  2. Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility)
  3. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech)
  4. (ITT) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep)
  5. NR
  6. Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe)
  7. Primož Roglič
  8. Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers)

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A string of firsts

Magnus Cort punches the air in celebration as he wins the uphill sprint shrouded in fog on stage 2 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné.
Cort out-sprinted the GC favourites to take stage 2 victory and move into the yellow jersey.
Derek Gee wins stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Gee’s long-awaited debut victory on European soil, his first pro win on the road bike which proved the precursor to a terrific race among the GC favourites.

Evenepoel back on top?

Remco Evenepoel during the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné time trial.
Evenepoel during his perfectly paced time trial effort.

Mountain domination … mostly

Primož Roglič in the yellow jersey crosses the line victorious on stage 7 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné but unable to celebrate with Matteo Jorgenson glued to his wheel.
Roglič played it cool in the final kilometre but there was no stopping the Slovenian. That said, he didn’t seem particularly interested in taking much time out of his rivals, and Jorgenson was very quick to respond, ultimately crossing the line on Roglič’s wheel.
Carlos Rodríguez celebrates stage 8 victory just ahead of Matteo Jorgenson at the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné.
A dramatic final stage ended in victory for the young Spaniard whose efforts moved him up to fifth overall.

Quotes of the race:

I definitely had a hard time today. But the same goes for the past few days. It was a tough edition with all the climbs and falls this week.”

Primož Roglič after sealing overall victory despite late scare

You always have a little bit of impostor syndrome, especially after the Giro [in 2023]. Credit to the team, they’ve always believed in me but sometimes it’s a little harder to believe in yourself when you have such a good race or a good three weeks last year, and then you go back to the level you were in before it. You think ‘was that a fluke?’ So it’s nice for the confidence to be able to back it up this year.”

Derek Gee said after his stage 3 win, before his superb performances in the mountains which carried him to third overall

Brief analysis:

Mads Pedersen celebrates victory in the stage 1 bunch sprint at the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné.
Pedersen took stage 1 and the first yellow jersey of the race ahead of Sam Bennett and Hugo Page.

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