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No chance for Evans against Valverde and Contador's combined efforts

Exactly 10 years after the stage win at the Dauphiné that marked the real beginning of his career, David Moncoutié (Cofidis) claimed a sensational solo victory on the Col de la Madeleine while race leader Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) found an ally in compatriot Alberto Contador (Astana) to resist the numerous attacks of Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) on the finishing climb. The Australian rode aggressively and spectacularly but was closely followed by the two Spaniards to the finish line.

"With a 1:30 lead at the foot of the last climb, I knew that it wasn't won yet," Moncoutié said. "This stage was suitable for a long breakaway, that's what we did. It was good to have four Cofidis riders in the front group. The guys did a wonderful job for me. It's been two months without any win from Cofidis."

Cofidis is the team Moncoutié has ridden for since 1997. The sponsor gave him a contract for one more year while the management of the team wanted to get rid of him. "It's a good feeling to show that 10 years later, I'm still up there and a winner," the Lyon-based rider said in the ski station of Saint-François-Longchamp where he was congratulated by Olympic giant slalom silver medallist Joël Chenal.

The Saxo Bank team played a major role in the valley before the finishing climb to reduce the gap. "We believed in my chances to win the stage," Jakob Fuglsang told Cyclingnews at the finish. "At the bottom of the last climb, I felt really, really good. On my first attack, only three riders followed me: Evans, Contador and Valverde. So I went again. In the last 500 meters, I blew. But I was not scared of blowing up. Others have the Tour de France in mind, not me."

This time, Evans will not be accused of not attacking. He constantly put pressure on Valverde in an attempt to win the Dauphiné. But each time when he looked back, it was Contador closing the gap on him. "I did what I could but that was not enough," said Evans. "The last climb was not really that selective and there was no more I could do against two Spanish guys racing together."

Like in the old tradition of the race, the last stage is not dead flat and there are more breakaways and attacks to come. However, it's very likely that Evans will finish second at the Dauphiné for the third year in a row. A second consecutive win is in the picture for Valverde.

How it unfolded

Six riders launched an attack after 23km on the Col de Lautaret: Jérôme Coppel (Française des Jeux), Laurent Lefevre (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Ludovic Turpin (AG2R La Mondiale), Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Simon Spilak (Lampre-NGC) and Tim Duggan (Garmin-Slipstream). Three Frenchman, Lefevre, Coppel and Kern, passed in that order at the top of the prestigious Col du Galibier near the monument dedicated to the founder of the Tour de France Henri Desgrange.

A break of 19 riders formed on the descent off the Galibier: Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana), Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank), Iñigo Landaluze and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Matthieu Ladagnous and Christophe Le Mével (Française des Jeux), José Luis Arrieta and Turpin (AG2R La Mondiale), Kern, Rémi Pauriol, Amaël Moinard and David Moncoutié (Cofidis), Duggan and Christian Meier (Garmin-Slipstream), Pierrick Fedrigo, Yuriy Trofimov and Lefevre (Bbox-Bouygues Telecom), Simon Spilak and Marco Marzano (Lampre-NGC).

Turpin went away solo at the bottom of the Galibier but was caught at km 71. In the valley, the front group became 27 riders strong with the addition of Jurgen Van den Broeck (Silence-Lotto), Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale), Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Benoît Vaugrenard (Française des Jeux), Mathias Frank (BMC Racing Team), Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) and Javier Mejias (Fuji-Servetto).

At Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne at the foot of the Col de la Croix-de-Fer, the breakaway was 1:45 ahead of the peloton led by the Caisse d'Epargne team of race leader Alejandro Valverde. The highest ranked of the escapees was Le Mével, 12th at 5:32.

Seven kilometres from the top of the Croix-de-Fer, the peloton trailed by 3:40 and it was time for the Valverde's team to accelerate. Fedrigo, who was already the king of the mountains, reached the summit first. Garate, Meier, Landaluze, Trofimov followed the Frenchman in that order. The group of the yellow jersey crossed the summit 2:45 behind.

Frank and Nocentini dropped their breakaway companions on the descent of the Croix-de-Fer prior to the final ascent to Saint-François-Longchamp, a ski station located five kilometres from the top of the famous Col de la Madeleine. Frank started the ascent on his own and with less than 11km to go, Moncoutié attacked in search of Frank, catching him 10km from the finish.

In the group of the favourites, Fuglsang attacked strongly. He inspired Cadel Evans who accelerated as well but the Spanish duo of Valverde and Contador quickly jumped on his wheel. An attack from Gesink 6km before the finish created another reaction from Evans but Valverde was assisted by Contador to reach the Australian.

While Moncoutié kept a steady pace alone in the front until the finish, Evans rode aggressively with the help of teammate Jurgen Van den Broeck who was in the front group earlier. Evans attacked repeatedly but never managed to drop the Spaniards.

Evans put in one last attack inside the final 500 metres which finally gapped Contador. Evans and Valverde passed Fuglsang and caught Gesink on the finish line. Valverde crossed the finish line in the same time as Evans, 41 seconds behind Moncoutié, and defended the leader's yellow jersey going into the Dauphiné's final stage on Sunday.

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