Fulsang wins sprint as Porte takes Yellow Jersey

Dramatic final sprint between Chris Froome, Fabio Aru, Richie Porte and Jacob Fulsang who crested the final climb of the Mont Du Chat in the lead

It was an amazing showdown as expected. The HC climb of the Mont du Chat delivered on all fronts, providing one of the best day's racing this year in the Pro Peloton.

The day started with an established 6 man breakaway that built up a maximum lead of over 8 minutes consisting of Oliver Naesen (AG2R-La Mondiale), Anthony Turgis (Cofidis), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale-Drapac), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) and Thierry Hupond (Delko Provence got a gap of more than eight minutes with the pack.

With around 50 kms to go AG2R La Mondiale, decided to chase and it looked likely that Roman Bardet was going to attack.

The nervousness of the peloton took a hold and there were several crashes, one involving Valverde, as the peloton was lined out chasing the break down before hitting the lower slopes of the Mont Du Chat.

With 30kms to go the breakaway's lead was down to 5 minutes.

It was Porte's BMC team mates that took over, setting a brutal pace just before the lower slopes of the HC Mont Du Chat.

It was so furious, race leader Thomas De Gendt was one of the first to crack and loose the yellow leader's jersey - but to whom?

Valverde was the first of Porte's rivals to attack only 51 seconds down on the GC. Esteban Chaves followed.

No long after that, Fabio Aru attacked and joined Chaves in chasing down Valverde.

Dan Martin was the next to attack.

Porte, Froome, Contador and Yates didn't react and stayed together.

Fabio Aru attacked again and dropped everyone passing the breakaway riders.

Behind Frome and Porte dropped Contador and Valverde and set off to chase Aru and then Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) attacked.

Fuglsang caught Aru. Sensing that Porte and Froome were chasing, Aru attacked again dropping team mate Fulsang and crested the climb of the Mont Du Chat 14 seconds ahead of Fulsang, Froome and Porte.

But it was on the descent that Chris Froome fired both barrels of his shotgun, caught and passed Aru and opened up a gap on Fulsang, Aru and Porte who desperately tried to catch him.

It was a thrilling descent and Porte seemed to be on the back foot, having trouble staying up with Aru and Fulsang chasing Froome down.

With 5 kms to go the road leveled out and Fulsang caught Froome and not long after so did Porte and Aru.

Fulsang was favorite to win the sprint, but decided to attack with 3kms to go to see if he could open up a gap.

Froome chased him down and it came down to a final four man bunch sprint.

Froome opened up first and Porte and Fulsang caught him on the line. At first it looked as if Porte had won the sprint, but the photo finish revealed, unsuprisingly, that Fulsang had just pipped everyone to the line.

Behind Valverde and Bardet were limiting the damage inflicted with cresting the climb some 45 secs down on the group of four.

Richie Porte, unsurprising, moved into the race lead, takling the yellow jersey.

Interestingly, Chris Froome is only 31 seconds behind Porte on GC, so the race isn't over yet.

Tomorrow's Stage 7 finishes on L'Alpe du Huez via the Col de Sarenne, so expect some more big fireworks to take place from all of Richie Porte's rivals, especially Chris Froome.

LIVE Coverage from 09:00 EST, 14:00 GMT, 15:00 CET daily.

2017 Criterium Du Dauphine Stage 7 Top Ten Results

1 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 3:41:48 
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team   
3 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky   
4 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team   
5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:50 
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors   
7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale   
8 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:06 
9 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo   
10 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:14

2017 Criterium Du Dauphine GC after Stage 7 Top Ten

 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 20:52:34 
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:39 
3 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:15 
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:20 
5 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:24 
6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:47 
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:14 
8 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:30 
9 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:49 
10 Rafael Valls (Spa) Lotto Soudal 0:03:16

VIDEO: 2017 Criterium Du Dauphine Stage 7 Highlights

 
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