La Madone d’Utelle, 7th stage: Saturday, March 9th
Aleksandr Vlasov played cat and mouse with the favourites to win stage 7 at the top of La Madone d’Utelle like his compatriot Ilnur Zakarin had done eight years before. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider took advantage of an attack by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) in the finale to counterattack, go on his own and win the mountain stage of this 82nd edition of the race in which he finished second overall in 2021. Evenepoel outsprinted the group of favourites ahead of Vlasov’s team leader Primoz Roglic. Dropped in the final kilometre, Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates) still managed to salvage his yellow and white jersey with a slim four-seconds lead over fellow-American Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike).
STAGE CLASSIFICATION
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora – Hansgrohe) 02H 44′ 03”
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick – Step) +08’’
- Primoz Roglic (Bora – Hansgrohe) +08’’
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) 25H 00′ 28′
- Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +04’’
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl – Trek) +35’’
