Slovenia’s Tedes Pogakar strengthened his lead in the criteria Du Dupin with a second consecutive stage victory in France.
The reign of Tour Day France and Road World Champions on Saturday’s 132 km ‘Queen Stage’ moved 12 kilometers from Grand-e-lench to Walminer on the final climb.
Pogkar of Slovenia eventually finished 14 seconds before Jonas Winggard, Denmark, his nearest rival.
The UAE team took the yellow jersey with a major win in Friday’s stage six and the 26-year-old was now going to a one-minute lead and a bike in a second on a bike man in the final stage of Sunday.
“I launched it and maintained a good speed at the top,” Pogakara said after winning his 98th career stage, “to move ahead of the French sprinter Arnoud Damre by an active rider.”
“Jonas was really strong today. I didn’t want to go myself too deep. It was a super hot and long climb. Fortunately, I had enough time to rest and recover in the previous kilometers.”
“Happy I could defend Jersey like this.”
Germany’s Florian Lipovitz was third in the stage, but two minutes and 21 seconds from Pogkar, while REMCO Anafel lost more time and is now fourth in total, one and a minute and 50 seconds ago.
A traditional warm-up for Tour de France, which begins on Saturday, July 5, ends with another hill platform, which includes 133.3 km from the plateau-Du Mont-Senis to 133.3 km.