Eddie Dunbar and his Ineos Grenadiers team were on the back foot today when Critérium du Dauphiné hit the high mountains and Jumbo Visma seized controlled of the general classification as pre-race favourite Primož Roglič is now in yellow.
Ireland's Dunbar was clearly not on a good day on the 134.8km stage from Saint-Chaffrey to Vaujany, which featured the Col du Galibier and the Col de la Croix de Fer before the final 5.8km climb to the finish.
Dunbar lost contact with the remains of the peloton with 35km to go, shaking his head as the TV motorbike passed him about 4km from the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer.
Just a couple of kilometres later yellow jersey Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) was also dropped, as the peloton was still quite large and was being driven on, in pursuit of the early breakaway, by Groupama-FDJ.
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Dunbar's team mate Tao Geoghegan Hart is still in contention overall, in 4th, and moved up places today. However, he was among those fancied riders who lost time when Jumbo Visma's Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič went on the attack. Only Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën) could respond when the Jumbo Visma duo pressed hard in the final kilometres.
Carlos Verona (Movistar) took a deserved stage win when he went in the early breakaway and then emerged the strongest from it, with Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo). They finally dropped the other survivors from the breakaway on the 5.8km climb to the finish.
Verona pressed hard early on that climb and was soon on his own and trying to hold off the general classification battle going on behind him. In the select group, Vingegaard took it up on the front on the final climb and shredded the group in preparation for a Roglič attack.
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When that attack came, the Slovenia immediately opened a gap as O'Connor was the only rider able to even attempt to go after him or stop the gap from growing. From that point, Roglič hunted down lone leader Verona, only 30 seconds up the road. A little further back, Vingegaard marked O'Connor as he tried to chase Roglič.
Verona held on to win by 13 seconds from Roglič. Just 12 seconds later, Vingegaard sprinted in for 3rd while O'Connor was 4th a further two seconds back. Then came the men who were able to live for the longest with the pace up the final climb set by Vingegaard.
Tour de l'Avenir champion Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Pro Cycling) was 5th, some 39 seconds down on Verona. Halland Johannessen takes over the young rider classification jersey from Ethan Hayter as the Ineos Grenadiers rider lost 2:27 today, though climbed a little better than expected.
Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) were 6th, 7th, and 8th; all at 40 seconds. Then came Geoghegan Hart in 9th at 48 seconds, gaining 12 seconds on the Bahrain Victorious duo of Jack Haig and Damiano Caruso.
In the end, Eddie Dunbar's off day saw him finish in 57th place at 9:43 and he drops 12 places to 36th overall. However, if he is recovered he will hopefully be in a position to assist Geoghegan Hart in his efforts to make the final podium.
Today's stage result means Roglič leads the race by 44 seconds from Vingegaard with O'Connor 3rd at 1:24 and Geoghegan Hart 4th at 1:30. Tomorrow's final stage takes the riders 138.8km from Saint-Alban-Leysse to Plateau de Salaison; an 11.4km summit finish climb averaging 8.9km and which comes after the Col de la Colombiere.
