On the line, Verona preserved a margin of 13 seconds over Roglic, who returned as a cannonball in the last 1500 meters.

But the Slovenian has especially taken time in the general classification which he now leads with 44 seconds ahead of his Danish teammate Jonas Vingegaard and 1 min 24 sec over Australian Ben O'Connor.

The joy of Spaniard Carlos Verona, winner of the 7th and penultimate stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, disputed between Saint-Chaffrey and Vaujany, on June 11, 2022 Marco BERTORELLO AFP

In this stage which crossed two legendary passes, the Galibier and the Croix-de-Fer, on the program for the stage of July 14 in the next Tour de France, the duo of the Jumbo team took over the other candidates at the podium.

Only O'Connor (4th in the 2021 Tour) held the shock at first but could not resist Roglic's tumble in the final.

"I really enjoyed myself," commented Roglic, the number one favorite in the race.

At the finish, he preceded by a dozen seconds Vingegaard, very comfortable, and O'Connor, who confirmed his level to the great satisfaction of Vincent Lavenu, the boss of the AG2R Citroën team.

Slovenian Primoz Roglic is the new leader of the Critérium du Dauphiné, after finishing 2nd in the 7th and penultimate stage, disputed between Saint-Chaffrey and Vaujany, on June 11, 2022 Marco BERTORELLO AFP

Behind the Rogic-Vingegaard doublet, the positions are very undecided.

O'Connor, followed by the Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart and the Italian Damiano Caruso, is only 16 seconds ahead of David Gaudu (6th at 1 min 40 sec from the yellow jersey).

Verona opens its prize list

On the other hand, the high mountain day confirmed the prognosis of the Belgian Wout van Aert, the previous yellow jersey who gave way 2 kilometers from the summit of the interminable Croix-de-Fer (29 km of ascent), and the limits moments from Spaniard Enric Mas, struggling after crashing this week.

The yellow jersey of the Critérium du Dauphiné, the Belgian Wout van Aert, during the 7th and penultimate stage, disputed between Saint-Chaffrey and Vaujany, on June 11, 2022 Marco BERTORELLO AFP

If Geoghegan Hart limited the loss (35 sec on Roglic on arrival), the good surprise came in his team of tracker Ethan Hayter, who tipped near the Roglic group at the top of the Croix-de-Fer.

The young Briton (23), with limited experience in the high mountains, discovers a future in major stage races.

For the victory of the day, Verona left behind on the first slopes of the final climb of Vaujany (5.7 km at 7.2%) the French Kenny Elissonde, another survivor of the initial breakaway.

At 29, the Spaniard of the Movistar team secured the first victory of his career in the WorldTour in which he has participated since 2013.

Spaniard Carlos Verona, on his way to victory in the 7th and penultimate stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, disputed between Saint-Chaffrey and Vaujany, on June 11, 2022 Marco BERTORELLO AFP

"I didn't want to experience the same thing as in the Vuelta last year," reacted Verona, who lost to Australian Michael Storer near Alicante.

"I thought about it when I went into the breakaway, I wanted the win".

On Sunday, the last stage ends at the Plateau de Solaison, a hard climb of 11.3 kilometers (at 9.2%), at the end of a 138.8 kilometer route which also crosses two first category passes, Plainpalais and la Colombiere.

For Roglic, these are the last obstacles before becoming the second Slovenian runner to appear on the list, twelve years after Janez Brajkovic.

© 2022 AFP