Rodriguez climbs to mountaintop stage victory

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Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) finally secured the victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné to confirm his climbing ability after four recent second places in similar finishes.

The tiny Spaniard jumped away on the steepest part of the climb to the finish at Le Collet d'Allevard. He was initially joined by Alexandro Vinokourov (Astana) but the Kazakhstani was unable to hold the pace and Rodriguez danced away, with his jersey blowing in the wind, to win alone, 31 seconds ahead of Robert Gesink (Rabobank).

The tough climb to the finish and the 192.5km of racing over five cols shredded the peloton with the leaders finishing one by one. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto) was third at 39 seconds and stage five winner Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) was a surprising fourth at 41 seconds, after another gravity defying ride. Vinokourov fought back to finish fifth at 50 seconds, with Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) sixth at 54 seconds.

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Aggressive racing

Despite the 192.5km stage including five categories climbs through the Alps and the tough finish to Le Collet d'Allevard, the action began early as riders tried hard to get into the break of the day.

Following his crash yesterday, Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) was a non-starter, leaving 165 riders in the race.

Leonardo Fabio Duque (Cofidis) was first over the summit of the first climb: the côte de Châtillon-sur-Cluses, but then the racing exploded when Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) attacked on the descent. He was quickly caught but other attacks formed and were pulled back after 20km, 30km and 40km of racing. The high speed caused several casualties with Frantisek Rabon (HTC-Highroad), Oscar Pujol (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Jan Tratnik (Quick Step), John Murphy (BMC) and Dario Cataldo (Quick Step) all abandoning the race.

On the Col des Aravais, a bigger move formed that included Jelle Vandendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Sébastien Joly (Saur-Sojasun), Amaël Moinard (BMC), Robert Gesink and Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Maciej Paterski (Liquigas), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha), Sandy Casar (FDJ), David Lopez (Movistar), Kevin Seeldrayers (Quick Step), Oliver Zaugg (Leopard), Przemyslaw Niemec (Lampre-ISD) and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil).

However even this was pulled back as Team Sky rode tempo on the front of the peloton.

Yet Garate refused to give up and went again at the bottom of the descent. This time Mauro Finetto (Liquigas-Cannondale), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Kevin Seeldrayers (Quick Step), Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha) and Sandy Casar (FDJ).

They worked together to quickly open a comfortable lead. They were all quality climbers but again the peloton refused to let them go clear to fight for the stage victory. At the start of the col du Grand Cucheron, they only a two-minute lead, as Team Sky riders Simon Gerrans, Juan Antonio Flecha, Rigoberto Uran, Xavier Zandio and Christian Knees policed the peloton and set an impressive tempo.

Astana took over before the final climb as it looked to set up Vinokourov for a punt at the stage victory.

The gap fell quickly but the break gained a few seconds when several cows strayed onto the road and caused some riders to crash. The presence of the huge animals on the road sparked panic in the peloton and Mikel Landa (Euskaltel) crashed hard and was forced out of the race. Fortunately everyone else was able to race on.

The breakaway was still clear at the foot of the 11km climb but they knew they would get caught and were pulled back one by one as Edvald Boasson Hagen set a rapid tempo for Wiggins. The young Norwegian sat on the front for five kilometres, tucked over his handlebars as everyone suffering in his slipstream.

His hard work caused a serious selection behind, with the likes of 2010 Dauphine winner Jani Brajkovic (RadioShack) just one of the riders to be dropped. He would finish four minutes down. Only a dozen riders were left at the front.

Boasson Hagen eventually pulled over, and almost came to a complete stop, with six kilometres to go. He had given his all for Wiggins in a classy show of team work.

Gesink attacked as Boasson Hagen eased. He got a gap as he looked for the stage victory but he was chased by the strongest riders, with Van Den Broeck looking strong. However it was Rodriguez and then Vinokourov who jumped across to Gesink.

Vino tried to go again but went into the red and so Rodriguez took advantage and quickly got a gap. Behind it was every man for themselves as they all touched their limits.

Evans struggled to handle the changes in pace, while Kern impressed yet again. Wiggins tried to keep his closest rivals in control while making sure Van Den Broeck did not gain too much time. Wiggins had to go deep but kept spinning his gear and always looked in control. One by one riders slipped from his grasp and gained a few seconds but most importantly, he also gained a few seconds on Evans.

Rodriguez celebrated his stage victory and then the riders crossed the line one by one. Wiggins bowed his head as he crossed the line but must have been proud of his performance. Baring major accidents and a bad day on Sunday, he is set to win the Critérium du Dauphiné. After his disappointing 2010 Tour de France, he seems back to the form that secured him fourth overall at the 2009 Tour de France.

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