It was yet another exceptional day for Tadej at the Criterium du Dauphiné, as he celebrated his third stage victory. After being the best in the 1st and 6th stages, he also won the queen 7th stage with a mountain top finish at Valmeinier 1800. Before that, the peloton had to tackle an extremely demanding test with over 4,800 meters of elevation, including climbs up Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Croix de Fer, where the riders of the Visma Lease a Bike team led by Jonas Vingegaard took the initiative.
After their attacks, Tadej was almost left without his domestiques, but Pavel Sivakov returned to the forefront and did an excellent job. He set the pace until Tadej attacked 12 kilometers from the finish. Just like the day before, he was alone at the front, with Vingegaard trailing half a minute behind, but in the last kilometer, he reduced the time loss to 14 seconds.
However, he could not prevent Tadej’s victory, his 10th of the 2025 season and the 98th of his career. »We wanted to control the action on all today’s climbs, where the Visma Lease a Bike team attacked several times. I was very pleased with how our team rode today, especially Pavel Sivakov,” Tadej praised the work of his UAE Team Emirates – XRG teammates.
»It was more about defense, so that all the Visma Lease a Bike riders wouldn’t attack me. So I initiated the attack and maintained a good pace to the top. I am satisfied that I could defend the yellow jersey like this. They attacked before the top of the climb at Croix de Fer; I think they wanted to drop me on the descent, the first few kilometers were quite dangerous. I didn’t like that, but that’s modern cycling. Then Pavel returned to the front and took control. Everything was fine, and then at the start of the last climb, he said he wouldn’t last much longer. He set me up for an attack, I commitred, mainly because I didn’t want to be attacked from behind,« Tadej revealed why he accelerated, even though he was already leading the overall standings by 43 seconds ahead of Vingegaard before this stage. Vingegaard also did not give up without a fierce fight, but his deficit increased to 1:01.
»Today, Jonas was certainly very strong, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to go too deep this time. It was extremely hot, and the climb was long. Fortunately, I had enough time to ease off a bit in the last kilometer and recover. You definitely look at the performances of competitors who could be even stronger at the Tour, but we will also add two climbers to our team. I am looking forward to that,« Tadej hopes for an even stronger lineup around him at the peak of the season.
But first he must safely bring the yellow jersey to the finish at the Criterium du Dauphiné tomorrow. »So far, so good; we just need to survive tomorrow,« added Tadej. Tomorrow he faces the 8th stage, with 3,500 meters of elevation gain and an ascent to Col du Mont Cenis just 5 kilometers before the finish.