Wout Poels (Team Ineos) won a stormy stage 7 of the Criterium du Dauphine, attacking late after a flurry of moves went on the final climb of the day.
Poels was with Chris Froome on Wednesday when the four-time Tour de France winner broke his hip, leg, elbow and ribs in a horrific, freakish crash.
“It’s great news for the team and it’s a gift for Chris,” Poels said after the win. “It was nice to have the freedom to go for the win, but it’s sad for Chris.”
Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang pulled on the overall race leader’s yellow jersey, eight seconds ahead of the Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) after a rain-lashed 133km stage Saturday.
“I have never seen worse racing conditions anywhere,” said Fuglsang.
At the end of an almost 20km climb, Poels edged Bora-hansgrohe man Emanuel Buchmann and Fuglsang in the toughest stage on the race.
Fuglsang won this race in 2017 and if he can hold on to the lead over the dense, steep 113km route Sunday will mark himself out as one of the favourites for the Tour de France.
The race is still wide open with Tejay Van Garderen third overall at 20sec, Buchmann fourth at 21, Poels fifth at 28.
Critérium du Dauphiné 2019 – stage 7 results (Saint-Genix-les-Villages – Pipay):
| 1 | Wout Poels (Team Ineos) | 4:01:34 |
| 2 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +01” |
| 3 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 4 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +10” |
| 5 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 6 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 7 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | +13” |
| 8 | Tejay Van Garderen (EF Education First) | +16” |
| 9 | Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) | +30” |
| 10 | Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal) | +34” |
Critérium du Dauphiné 2019 – general classification after stage 7:
| 1 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | 27:36:40 |
| 2 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +08” |
| 3 | Tejay Van Garderen (EF Education First) | +20” |
| 4 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +21” |
| 5 | Wout Poels (Team Ineos) | +28” |
| 6 | Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) | +32” |
| 7 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +33” |
| 8 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | +01’12” |
| 9 | Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) | +01’20” |
| 10 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’21” |
