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Stage 7 of the Dauphine brought the race’s only big mountaintop finish, at Montée de La Plagne. Mark Padun scored his first WorldTour victory with the stage win.
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Richie Porte finished 34 seconds later, to take the GC lead.
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Miguel Angel Lopez and Jack Haig were the next to finish.
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Erstwhile race leader Alexey Lutsenko had left it all on the field in his attempt to keep the yellow jersey.
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About ten minutes after the leaders finished, I started walking down the climb, to get some shots from different vantage points.
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More than half an hour after the leaders had passed her, this little girl still danced with glee, calling “Allez allez allez,” every time a rider came by. She proudly showed me the bottles she’d collected.
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On stage 8, it was Padun again:
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Jonas Vingegaard and Patrick Konrad were second and third on the stage, and Ben O’Connor was fourth.
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Jack Haig patted Richie Porte on the back as Porte finished in the favorites’ group and sealed the overall victory.
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Tao Geoghegan Hart:
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Enric Mas:
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Valverde and Maduas:
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Matthew Holmes:
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Lawson Craddock:
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Porte gave a thumbs-up to a tv camera on his way to the podium to collect the winner’s jersey.
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