On the scene at stages 7 & 8 of the Dauphine

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.

Richie Porte finished 34 seconds later, to take the GC lead.

Miguel Angel Lopez and Jack Haig were the next to finish.

Erstwhile race leader Alexey Lutsenko had left it all on the field in his attempt to keep the yellow jersey.

About ten minutes after the leaders finished, I started walking down the climb, to get some shots from different vantage points.

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.

On stage 8, it was Padun again:

Jonas Vingegaard and Patrick Konrad were second and third on the stage, and Ben O’Connor was fourth.

Jack Haig patted Richie Porte on the back as Porte finished in the favorites’ group and sealed the overall victory.

Tao Geoghegan Hart:

Enric Mas:

Valverde and Maduas:

Matthew Holmes:

Lawson Craddock:

Porte gave a thumbs-up to a tv camera on his way to the podium to collect the winner’s jersey.