Contador wins at L'Alpe d'Huez

Image 1 of 28

Alberto Contador of Astana won at L'Alpe d'Huez after a tensely fought sixth stage at the Criterium du Dauphine, but he was unable to break away from Janez Brajkovic of RadioShack, who doggedly stayed with the Spaniard and defended his overall lead.

Contador and Brajkovic crossed the finish line in the same time, needing more than 45 minutes to reach the top. Sylvester Szmyd (Liquigas-Doimo), who had tried to attack the two, eventually struggled to hold on and finished second 17 seconds back, with Jerome Coppel of Saur-Sojasun taking fourth at 24 seconds.

Brajkovic remained in first position in the overall standings, while Contador climbed to second at 1:41. HTC-Columbia's Tejay van Garderen was unable to stay with them on the climb to L'Alpe d'Huez but he fought all the way to the finish. He finished 11th at 1:26, after some help from Chris Horner (RadioShack) and slipped only to third place overall at 2:41.

Before the explosive racing on the hairpins of L'Alpe d'Huez, the stage was marked by a 20-man escape group but the riders never built up a large lead and never had much chance of securing a stage victory. The Astana-led chase group ground its way along all day, dropping riders from its group and eventually catching those falling out of the lead group, as they all started their way up the Alpe d'Huez, the fourth and final climb of the day after the Cotes des Fontaines, the Col du Grand Cucheron and the Col du Glandon in just 151km.

A great day of racing

159 riders were at the start in Crolles, with Quick Step's Kevin Seeldraeyers the only one missing from the previous day.

The peloton stayed together for the first climb, the category three Cote des Fontaines, but it didn't stay that way long. A group got away on the immediate following climb, the category two Col de Grand Cucheron. It turned into a 19-man group taking 2:25 over the top.

David Le Lay (Ag2r La Mondiale), Ruben Plaza Molina (Caisse d’Epargne, Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel Euskadi), Julien El Fares (Cofidis), Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana), Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma Lotto), Stephan Denifl (Cervelo Test Team), Johan Van Summeren (Garmin Transitions), Cyril Gautier (Bouygues Telecom), Guillaume Levarlet (Saur Sojasun), Remi Di Gregorio (Francaise des Jeux), Dario Cataldo and Branislau Samoilau (Quick Step), Thomas Rohregger (Milram), Oscar Pujol (Cervelo TestTeam), Danny Pate (Garmin Transitions), Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale), Amael Moinard (Cofidis), and Laurent Lefèvre (Bouygues Telecom) were joined on the descent by Dmitri Champion of Ag2r La Mondiale.

After a short breathing spell, the road went up again, up the Hors Category Col du Glandon, and just over halfway through the stage, the gap had grown to over three minutes.

The Glandon is not the steepest climb in the Alps but it is long and tiring. Many riders struggled as they fought their laborious way up the seemingly endless climb. Numerous riders were dropped out of the lead group and out of the peloton, including Britain's David Millar (Garmin-Transitions). He eventually finished at 24:39.

A group of nine approached the crest of the Glandon and Cervelo's Pujol slipped out to be first over the top. Martinez nipped him at the last moment, though, to take the 20 points. The chase group came over the top about 1:25 later. Pujol and Martinez stayed away on the descent, and as they pulled away, Bouet, Denifl and Di Gregorio jumped to go after them. They caught and passed the duo, and built up their own lead. Denifl then pulled away on the rapid descent.

Astana had taken over the lead of the chase group, hoping to isolate and perhaps later drop overall leader Janez Brajkovic. However the Slovenian hung doggedly on Contador' rear wheel, supported by Astana teammate Chris Horner. Pujol was able to take off at the start of L'Alpe d'Huez but he became just a hare for the strongest riders to chase.

Sylvester Szmyd of Liquigas tired to jump from the yellow jersey group, where Astana continued to grind away on the front. The leaders caught and passed those who had fallen out of the lead group, as the gap on Pujol dropped to under a minute.

Denis Menchov of Rabobank was the first big named to fall back. Brajkovic lost Horner too, while Contador still had three teammates around him. With 10 km to go, Pujol was caught and just one kilometre later, Contador took off, dancing on the pedals in his unique style. Brajkovic was easily able to follow and catch the Spaniard, making Contador aware that he was in control of the race.

The Tour de France winner didn't give up however, and keep accelerating time and time again. Yet it was to no avail. Every attack was countered quite easily by Brajkovic, who seemed to be using his power metre to gauge his effort.

As they two eased after the attacks, Szmyd was able to get across and join the two leaders, and with five kilometres to go, Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Coppel were able to join them too. Szmyd tried to get away and in the stage but Contador was behind him and once again, Brajkovic was able to catch them and soon the five were together again in a thrilling game of cat and mouse on the L'Alpe d'Huez.

With 4 km to go, Contador and Brajkovic took off again, but yet again, they were eventually joined by Szmyd and eventually Coppel. It was a four way fight up the final few kilometres, and with just over two kilometres, Contador took off again, with his constant companion Brajkovic with him.

This time the RadioShack rider moved to the front and did some work. The duo stayed together through the L'Alpe d'Huez ski resort with Contador coming off Brajkovic's wheel on the uphill finish to win the sprint and stage. He celebrated with his 'Pistolero' winning salute but failed in his attempt to take the race lead. This was as much, if not more, Brajkovic's day of victory.

Full Results