Dauphine: Wiggins and Sky dominate the Joux Plane

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Nairo Quintana (Movistar) won the sixth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine, holding off not only Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) but also Team Sky. Evans broke from the small group of favourites to finish second, 16 seconds down, with Daniel Moreno of Katusha leading the group across the finish line another eight seconds later.

Bradley Wiggins easily defended his lead, but there were changes behind him. Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) had fallen back on the brutal final climb, and also fell off the podium. Evans attacked near the end but it was not enough to bring him a significant gain, but with Martin gone Michael Rogers moved up to second and Evans to third.

A large escape group had broken away early and stayed away much of the stage. Brice Feillu (Saur-Sojasun) broke from the group on the penultimate ascent, and was able to stay away until near the top of the final climb. The rest of the break group had been caught earlier on the climb.

The day saw a number of riders abandon, but the most significant was Andy Schleck. The RadioShack-Nissan rider was suffering from injuries caused by a crash in the stage four time trial, and had to drop out after 65 kilometres.

However, the stage was a masterful piece of work by Team Sky, with three riders staying with Wiggins until the end, and never showing any signs of weakness. Christopher Froome climbed in to fourth place, giving the British team first, second and fourth places overall. Still, the stage also showed that their competition was weak. Evans was left to fend for himself on the final climb, and top names like Martin and Vincenzo Nibali were unable to conquer the final climb.

Wiggins called it “an ideal situation for us all day,” and praised his teammates for their hard work. “We’re trying to do a job and we’re doing it as efficiently and professionally as possible. It’s never about sending messages,” he said on the team's website. “We've trained for this as a team and each individual has worked just as hard as I have. We’re getting the job done and racing to our strengths. We’re just going one day at a time and everybody’s building towards July."

Evans had a double purpose in attacking at the end. “I was hoping for a little bit of a chance for the stage (win)," he said on the BMC website. "But I also heard Tony Martin was dropped on the Joux-Plane and I wanted to maintain the gap on him."

Quintana disclosed that he had suffered at the beginning of the day. “It was a really complicated stage because I went through really bad sensations at the start and couldn't make the breakaway.” He couldn't make the break group but was able to stay with the favourites' group, and waited for his chance.

“With 4k from the summit, I saw a good moment to give it a try. I didn't attack really strong, but instead on a progressive pace. I knew I could get to the finish solo if I had twenty seconds at the top.”

Six climbs on the race's queen stage

The race started with the ascent of the category one-ranked Col de Plainpalais, and almost immediately Andy Schleck had difficulties. He only made it to the third ascent of the day before leaving the race.

Others were luckier, and a large escape group formed on that first climb. Petr Ignatenko, Alberto Losada and Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha), Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Blel Kadri and Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Tiago Machado (RadioShack), Maciej Paterski and Cayetano Sarmiento (Liquigas), Rémy Di Gregorio and David Moncoutié (Cofidis), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Mario Marzano (Lampre), Jesus Hernandez (Saxo Bank), Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma), Brice Feillu (Saur - Sojasun), Alexandre Geniez (Argos) and Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil) formed the large group which had a lead of up to three and a half minutes on the early part of the stage.

The day's course was not an easy one, as it featured six ranked climbs, including the opening Col de Plainpalais. the category one Col de Colombiere and closing with the Col de Joux Plane (hors categorie), although there was no mountaintop finish.

At around the feeding zone, Andrey Grivko of Astana attacked out of the peloton. It took a long time, but he was able to meet up with the escape group on the descent of the Colombiere.

The category 3 Cote de Chatillon popped up between the two final larger climbs, and Feillu took advantage of it to break from the group.

The expected – or at least, hoped-for – fireworks for the GC never happened. Team Sky had the peloton in full control, with race leader Bradley Wiggins well protected. He kept a close eye on second-placed Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

The gap between the peloton and the large escape group remained fairly constant, but Feillu built up his lead over the group. His lead got to be too much for Lotto Belisol, who moved up to help Sky with the lead work. The chase soon showed effect, as the gap fell by about a minute.

Feillu started up the final climb with a three minute lead. And the start of the climb was the cue for Evans' BMC team to move to the head of the field. The pace was high enough that many rides started dropping off the back of the field, as Lotto Belisol and Sky reclaimed the head of the peloton.

The field splintered entirely, with Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) all dropped.

Feillu clung doggedly to his shrinking lead, and the one-time break group shattered as well. They were finally caught by the Sky-led group, just as Tony Martin had to drop back.

Richie Porte and Edvald Boasson Hagen were the main locomotives for Sky on the climb, putting in monstrous efforts.

Quintana made his move with some 15km to go, trying to bridge up to Feillu. Wiggins still had three teammates with him, including Michael Rogers who looked to move up to second after Martin’s capitulation. Evans had only one teammate at his side, but was soon alone in the small group.

Feillu didn't make it alone to the top of the climb. Quintana caught and passed him and Feillu quickly fell back through the Wiggins group. The Movistar rider took a 22 second gap into the descent.

Evans finally jumped on the descent, with 12km to go. He never had more than a few metres, and Sky quickly and calmly gathered him back in.

It was a fast and dangerous descent. Quintano went all out and wobbled a few times on the tricky curves, but was able to add a few seconds to his narrow lead.

Evans pulled away again with just over 5km to go. But he had left it too late to put in enough time to take the overall lead, and Sky was more concerned with coming down the mountain in one piece.

The Australian was hoping to catch and pass Quintana for the stage win, but the Colombian was in fact increasing his lead on the Wiggins group with every corner. Quintana took the win with a comfortable gap over Evans, with the Wiggins group coming in a few seconds later.