Stage 7 of the Tour de France saw Tom Dumoulin gain as much time as possible on his rivals in a group that formed the final chapter of Friday's stage, with Jumbo Visma, Ineos Grenadier and Groupama FDJ joining forces.

The 81-second gap to the main pack could have been much larger, but when it became clear that Richard Calapaz, who appeared to be enjoying unofficial "Plan B" status within the team, suffered a late puncture and was forced to lose time, Ineos stopped working.

Gurupama-FDJ, along with Astana, continued to lead on the final entry into Lavour, but Jumbo-Visma, who cooperated fully, was arguably the biggest winner of the day as the Dutch team took its third stage win in seven days.

Dumoulin, who moved up one place to fifth in the overall Tour de France standings, was delighted as he and Wout Van Aert celebrated their second win of the day. The fact that Jumbo Visma was still able to win despite his limited strength must have added to his joy.

Dumoulin explained to NOS that the pace picked up on the first climb, causing Tony Martin and Amund Grondahl-Jansen, two riders who would normally be key to a crosswind stage, to break away from the main group. They were the only ones protecting Logric from the wind, with only Van Aert and Robert Gesink.

"I don't know what Wout has," Dumoulin said. 'He stays with Primosch all day and sets up the sprints. It's unbelievable."

Dumoulin was surprised, but also very pleased that his teammate had achieved such a stunning victory. Along with Van Aert, he singled out George Bennett and Sepp Kuss as the two climbers who, despite being featherweight climbers, had made the most of the finale.

"We knew where the race was going to fall apart, and it fell apart there. And it's great that Wout finished it off," Dumoulin said.

Dumoulin, a two-time Tour de France podium finisher and Giro d'Italia champion, was also on the podium when Ineos surged in Castres, with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Mikel Landa ( Bahrain Merida) and others were heard to be involved.

"So I started running. It couldn't have gone better," he said.