Fedrigo triumphs in Dauphiné stage six

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It took six stages, but a Frenchman finally took a stage win thanks to Pierrick Fedrigo from Bbox-Bouygues Telecom. His win came after those of Cadel Evans, Angelo Furlan, Niki Terpstra, Bert Grabsch and Sylvester Szmyd. Fedrigo got in an early breakaway during the shortest stage (108km), rode strongly over the Izoard and outsprinted Belgian Jurgen Van de Walle in Briançon at the end of stage six of the Dauphiné Libéré.

"I didn't target this stage in particular," said Fedrigo. "Yesterday I had stomach pains, so on the Ventoux, I dropped back and took a place in the grupetto. Today I was lucky to catch the breakaway, and I found confidence again."

"I managed to climb the Izoard at my own pace - that's why I was still in the front at the end. In the finale, I thought the race was lost against Van de Walle, but I made the right effort with 200 or 300 meters to go. I caught the right moment. It might have looked easy, but it's never easy to climb up to Briançon."

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Fedrigo said he would have let his compatriot Stéphane Goubert (AG2R) win what would have been the first victory of the 39-year-old's career, but that was not how it worked out in the end.

Race leader Alejandro Valverde called the stage "more or less quiet".

"The only attack was the one from Alberto Contador on the final hill, and Cadel Evans responded," said the Spanish champion, who's predicting nationality won't play much of a role in the outcome of Saturday's challenging stage.

"It's very hard with the Galibier, the Croix-de-Fer and the Madeleine," said Valverde. "The most dangerous riders for me are still Contador and Evans. I'll also have to control [Robert] Gesink and [Mikel] Astarloza, who is used to attacking from far out, as he did today. Between the Spanish riders, we might benefit from some solidarity, but each of us will do his own race. Three of us - Contador, Evans and myself - will race against each other."

The Izoard produced no major changes on the GC, but the Madeleine with a finish at St-François-Longchamp, five kilometres from the top, might yield another story.

How it unfolded

After 17 kilometres, 14 riders went away: Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel), Stéphane Goubert (AG2R), Benoît Vaugrenard (Française des Jeux), Bingen Fernandez (Cofidis), Jurgen Van de Walle (Quick Step), Svein Tuft (Garmin-Slipstream), Pierrick Fedrigo (Bbox-Bouygues Telecom), Mauro Santambrogio (Lampre), Gert Steegmans (Team Katusha), Markus Zberg (BMC), Aliaksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Alberto Fernandez de la Puebla (Fuji Servetto) and Lars Bak (Team Saxo Bank).

Prior to starting the ascent of the col d'Izoard at Guillestre (55km), the break's maximum lead was 5:15. The Caisse d'Epargne team of the race leader Alejandro Valverde maintained the deficit of the bunch around five minutes.

With 30km to go, Van de Walle went solo. He was passed four kilometres further by Goubert, Garate and Verdugo, who were joined later by Fedrigo, the man who would cross the line first at the top of the col d'Izoard.

Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was the only rider to attack from the yellow jersey group. He kept it up on the downhill to gain some positions on the GC.

In the front, Van de Walle accelerated before the final climb called the "Gargouille" in the old town of Briançon, but he got into trouble just before the top and was caught by Fedrigo, who outsprinted him on the finishing line.