Brajkovic wins the Critérium du Dauphiné

Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky took a classy solo win on the final day of the Critérium du Dauphiné, while Janez Brajkovic of RadioShack won the overall classification to claim the biggest victory in his career.

Brajkovic's victory almost certainly earned him a place in the RadioShack team for the Tour de France that will hope to beat Alberto Contador as comprehensively as the little Slovenian did in the Alps during the seven-day race. Contador was well beaten and finished 1:41 behind Brajkovic with HTC-Columbia youngster Tejay Van Garderen taking an impressive third at 2:41.

Boasson Hagen was in the break that escaped the peloton mid-stage and then attacked alone on the tough finishing circuit that hosted the 1980 world championships won by Bernhard Hinault. Footon-Servetto's Arkaitz Duran was second, 27 seconds down, with Egor Silin of Katusha third, five seconds later.

Van Garderen led the group of favourites across the finish line at 40 seconds, with Contador right behind him. Brajkovic let the others in the group go ahead, comfortably rolling into the finish and quietly celebrating his victory at the end of the group.

Boasson Hagen happy, Brajkovic modest

Boasson Hagen celebrated his stage win by pointing at his Team Sky jersey. He had a difficult spring because of an Achilles heel injury but now looks back on track for his Tour de France debut in July. It was his fourth win of the 2010 season.

"It was hard to close the gap on the break but I'm really happy that I made it," he said.

“It's nice to race on this circuit (where Bernhard Hinault won his world title in 1980) but it's really hard. But I felt good today."

Brajkovic got a big hug from RadioShack teammate Chris Horner, a few seconds after crossing the line, and was also congratulated by Van Garderen.

“This is the biggest success of my career. The guys did an awesome job this week, they were just great," Brajkovic said.

"We were a little bit lucky that the break got away, we took a few risks but we had everything under control. Alberto decided not to attack today, perhaps he didn't want to risk crashing on the downhill so it was perfect for us."

Brajkovic was surprisingly modest after his very convincing victory over Contador.

"The Dauphine is a really hard race with a quality field but it's a month before the Tour de France. We shouldn't forget that the top riders come here and they are not in their very top shape, while I am close to my best. Things have gone good so far. I hope I can do the Tour this year, and if not this year, some other year. I'd like to try for the overall in that."

Contador sprinted to finish ahead of Brajkovic on the stage, and secured the green jersey for points. The King of the Mountains was won by Egoi Martinez of Euskaltel-Euskadi, and his Basque team also claimed the team classification.

Ironically the top three riders at the end were also the top three in the prologue, although not in the same order. Contador win it ahead of Van Garderen and Brajkovic and kept the yellow jersey until the stage three time trial. The Spaniard surprisingly had a poor race against the clock, losing 1:46 to Brajkovic, who blasted his way through the 49 km course to take the race lead. David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) was second in the time trial and moved up to second. However the Scot dropped out of the top three on the very next stage, and Contador used a win on L'Alpe d'Huez to jump to second ahead of Van Garderen. He tried to topple Brajkovic but the he stepped up in style and responded to all of Contador's attacks to secure overall victory.

An ever-changing escape group

Rain made the final stage difficult and the five climbs of the Côte de Dormancy added to the pain of the final stage.

However that did not stop the attacks early on. A group of eight riders got away only two kilometres into the stage. Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Christophe Brandt (Omega Pharma Lotto), Christian Meier (Garmin Transitions), Kevin De Weert (Quick Step), Stephane Augé, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Dominik Roels (Milram) and Alan Perez (Euskaltel) had a minimal lead, and the group fell apart on the first climb.

Just before the summit, a new group formed, with Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Kevin De Weert (Quick Step) and Alan Perez (Euskaltel), Francisco Perget (Caisse d’Epargne), Egor Silin (Katusha), Ivan Santaromita (Liquigas), Christophe Le Mével (Française des Jeux), Sébastien Minard (Cofidis), Laurent Lefèvre (BBox Bouygues Telecom), Arkaitz Duran Aroca (Footon Servetto), Dario Cataldo (Quick Step), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky), and Remi Pauriol (Cofidis).

This group stayed together, but went into the closing circuit with only a two-minute lead. The five laps were 11km each, and included the 9.2 percent Côte de Domancy each time. And if that wasn't enough difficulty, the rain started to fall heavily.

The group shrank as the race neared the finish, breaking apart completely on the penultimate lap, as the sun came out again. The break was down to five riders: Boasson Hagen, Le Mevel, Silin, Duran and Santaromita.

Duran took off with 16km to go. He couldn't stay away though, and Boasson Hagen drove the small group over the finish line into the last lap with only a 50 second lead over the field. The peloton fancied their chances of catching them but then the young Norwegian attacked on the final lap, riding furiously on the wet roads in the rain. Duran gave chase and came close, but couldn't catch the Team Sky rider, and so Boasson Hagen soloed in for his fifth win of the season and his first since returning from injuries.

His season is clearly back on track and ready for his debut at the Tour de France just like Brajkovic. Alberto Contador will also be in France but he must be hoping he will have much better form.

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