Ben O'Connor had a strong ride in the first mountain stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné, earning him a provisional podium finish.

He may not have been able to keep up with the Jumbo-Visma duo of Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard on Saturday's seventh stage in the Alps, but he nevertheless rode a race that outclassed the rest.

"I'm so close to the Tour de France and I'm happy to be racing with the best," O'Connor told reporters at the finish in Vujany.

Saturday, the first of two mountain stages leading up to the climax of the Dauphiné weekend, saw a sharper final climb over the Galibier and Croix de Fer passes and into the ski resort of Vaujany.

The pack of potential winners was already thinning from the heat and altitude, but 3km from the top of the final climb, Vingegaard exploded the pack with a furious acceleration. O'Connor was then the only one to follow Roglic.

But it wasn't long before Roglic took off. O'Connor could not keep up with the acceleration and finished in fourth place, 14 seconds behind Roglic.

"I actually thought he would wait for the sprint, so I kind of miscalculated.

"There's not much you can do in that situation. Even if you try to keep up with Primoz, if you can't keep up with him there's not much you can do. Still, we have to keep running. It may look like I'm losing, but if I get up, someone will come back. I just have to keep going. But when you have two top players on your team, there is not much else you can do.

Despite the two Jumbo Visma riders finishing ahead of him, O'Connor would have been encouraged by the list of riders who finished behind him. David Gaudou (Groupama-FDJ) finished 13 seconds back, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) 21 seconds back, and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) 29 seconds back.

O'Connor is currently in third place overall, 1:24 behind Roglic and 40 seconds behind Vingegaard, but 6 seconds behind Geoghegan Hart, 8 seconds behind Caruso, and 16 seconds behind Gaudu.

The Dauphiné will conclude on Sunday with an 11-km climb with an average gradient of over 9% and a summit finish on the Plateau de Solaison.

"The final stage of the Dauphiné is always a bit of a fun battle," O'Connor said. "Tomorrow it will be twice as long and a harder climb.