Primoz Roglic won the Critérium du Dauphiné cycling race for a second time after a big scare in Sunday's final stage won by Spanish rider Carlos Rodriguez.
Slovenia's Roglic prevailed by a mere eight seconds over American rider Matteo Jorgensen after eight stages in the important tune-up event for the Tour de France.
Rodriguez and Jorgensen moved away from Roglic with five kilometres left in the mountain stage over 160.6km from Thones to Plateau des Glières, and finished in that order, 15 seconds ahead of Canadian Derek Gee.
Roglic, who had won the previous two stages, finished sixth with a deficit of 48 seconds which was just good enough to win like in 2022.
Early race leader Remco Evenepoel of Belgium faded in the difficult mountain stages.
"It is a little crazy for me to win the Dauphiné, after all that has happened before," Roglic said. "I certainly suffered over the past three days."
Roglic had crashed during the Basque Country Tour in April along with Evenepoel and two-time reigning Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, who is yet to compete again amid uncertainty whether he will be at the Tour which starts on June 29.
Roglic is considered a top contender, along with countryman Tadej Pogacar who won the Giro d'Italia last month and will be aiming to claim a first Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.
