In the stage with the Col de la Madeleine along the way, a breakaway of nine riders finally got established after a very fast first hour of racing. They got a maximum lead of about six minutes. Team Jumbo-Visma controlled the stage and was systematically closing in on the leaders. On the final climb, Tom Dumoulin, Steven Kruijswijk and Sepp Kuss further increased the pace after which Roglic started the sprint of the first chasing group, which finished at half a minute from the Italian. Roglic also took the lead in the points classification from teammate Wout van Aert.

“It was a great day for us”, Roglic said. “It was a tough and fast stage, but we had the stage perfectly under control. The team was again very strong and they kept me out of trouble. For us that leading group was an ideal situation, but we could not give them 15 minutes either because Formolo was still quite close in the standings. The fact that I still managed to take bonification seconds is an extra bonus. The next two days will be very difficult and there is still a lot of climbing to come. The team, but also myself, have to keep their focus. We rely on our own strength and we have proven that we are very strong. So we have a lot of confidence for tomorrow.”

Tom Dumoulin was setting the pace in support of Roglic for half the final climb today. “Yesterday I actually felt better, but then I had a mechanical problem at the foot of the final climb. Today was a good stage to test and try out certain things with an eye on the Tour de France. On the other hand, we also want to win the Dauphiné here. We have a strong team and Primoz has shown to be very strong at the moment. My top shape is certainly not there yet, but it is going in the right direction.”