Kern wins big for Europcar

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Christophe Kern claimed his first win in seven years after an aggressive showing from his Europcar team in the finale of stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The race fragmented on the shallow climb to Les Gets, but yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins (Sky) was never put into difficulty and he retained his 1:11 lead over Cadel Evans (BMC).

In the run-in to the 10km ascent, Europcar massed at the front of the peloton, seemingly to set up stage victory for French champion Voeckler. On the climb itself, there were green jerseys swarming up the road at every opportunity, as Pierre Rolland tracked Tony Martin’s (HTC-Highroad) early move, and then Kern was part of the chase group that formed in pursuit of Oliver Zaugg’s (Leopard Trek) bold bid for glory.

When the chasers caught Zaugg with 3km to go, the rapidly-dwindling yellow jersey group was already on their coattails, but the plucky Kern summoned up the strength to forge clear and quickly opened out a 10-second gap. Though clearly suffering, Kern succeeded in maintaining that advantage all the way to the summit to score a famous victory. Remarkably, the 30-year-old hadn’t won a race since taking the 6th stage of the 2004 Tour de l’Avenir in the colours of Brioches La Boulangère.

“It’s really super, I’d been waiting too long,” a delighted Kern said afterwards. “I was injured for a long time at the start of the season, and I only came back to racing two weeks after Paris-Nice. But all that time, everybody on the team supported me and let me come back steadily. If I won today, it’s also thanks to them.”

While Kern was undoubtedly the hero of the day, it seems that no Europcar success would be complete without heavy involvement from Thomas Voeckler, and the French champion played the role of équipier to perfection by marshalling the searing attacks of Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervélo), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard) behind.

Sorensen was the only of the chasers to get any purchase on his attack, as he took advantage of a drop in pace underneath the red kite to rip clear alone. Within seconds Voeckler had jumped across, however, and the French champion sat like a dead weight on Sorensen’s wheel.

Up front, Kern was going through a private purgatory all of his own in the final thousand metres. Hunched over the handlebars and with his face contorted in an expression of the rawest agony, it briefly looked as though he was struggling to keep the gear turning, but as the road levelled out in the final 500 metres Kern found his rhythm once again and took the victory to tumultuous applause.

Sorensen crossed the line 7 seconds later for second place, while a fist-pumping Voeckler sat up to come home just ahead of the yellow jersey group in third.

Race leader Wiggins crossed the line in 6th place after an intelligent ride in the finale. His Sky team allowed a series of lower-placed riders go clear on the early slopes of the climb, but when Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) went on the offensive inside the final 3km, Wiggins was able to ease his way across.

“I was never worried,” Wiggins said. “But it’s only the first of three difficult days, and it will be much more complicated tomorrow and Sunday.”

While Cadel Evans safely finished in the same group as Wiggins, the Englishman will take encouragement from the fact that his closest rival seemed to be a little slower in his response to the series of accelerations that marked the final stages of the climb. However, he will also be well aware that there are more serious tests to come.

McCartney’s brave bid

While the previous day’s early break had been allowed to sleepwalk clear in the opening kilometres, the peloton was rather more vigilant at the beginning of stage 5. The first two hours of racing were run off at a leg-wilting average speed of 48.1kph, as rider after rider attempted to go clear.

Eventually it was Jason McCartney (RadioShack) who picked his moment, and clipped off the front when there was a brief lull in proceedings after 95km. The American soon built up a sizeable lead, and with 75km to race, his advantage stood at 12:45.

It was at this point that Katusha picked up the pace in the bunch behind, however, with Joaquim Rodriguez in mind. Together with Sky, they sent about reeling in McCartney, and when Voeckler and Europcar through their hat into the ring 25km from home, the game was up.

Before reaching the final climb, Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) was a faller in the main peloton. Although he reported no serious injuries and was able to rejoin the race, he lost all hopes of a high overall placing, as the accident came precisely as the pace was rising ahead of the run-in to the base of the final climb.

As soon as the road climbed upwards, the natural selection occurred from the rear of the field, with rider after rider being deposited out the back, and surprisingly, Robert Gesink (Rabobank) was among them.

9.5km from the summit, Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) went on the offensive, and his decent rhythm brought Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale) clear with him. The trio built up a maximum lead of 15 seconds, but with so many aggressive riders chasing behind, they were never going to be allowed to stay clear.

A sizeable counter attack that included Oliver Zaugg, Christophe Kern, Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) and David Lopez Garcia (Movistar) bridged across with 5km to go, and almost instantly Zaugg saw an opportunity to press on alone, but in spite of opening up a 20-second lead on the yellow jersey group, the Swiss rider couldn’t quite shake his fellow escapees.

Zaugg was reeled in 3km from the line, and the stage was set for Kern to put in his bold bid for stage glory even though the yellow jersey group was breathing down his neck. As the Frenchman grinded his way clear, the favourites made the fatal mistake of watching one another, and Kern made the very most of his opportunity.

There was no concerted chase from the yellow jersey group, but instead the pace rose and fell in accordance with the attacks. Rodriguez put in the most ferocious burst but he desisted shortly afterwards. Dan Martin was the next to go, with 2km to go, and his move reduced the group still further. Vinokourov also attempted to put Wiggins into difficulty, but the Englishman was alert all the way to the finish.

The day belonged to Europcar, however, and to Christophe Kern in particular. He will be hoping for a repeat performance in July, and with the Tour set to start in his team’s home region of the Vendée, Europcar will be pleased with the dress rehearsal.
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