Bradley Wiggins retains his Critérium du Dauphiné title

Daniel Moreno (Katusha) won the final stage of the Criterium du Dauphine, whilst Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) easily secured his second consecutive overall title. Moreno slipped by Rabobank's Luis Leon Sanchez just before the finish line to take the win, with Cadel Evans of BMC Racing Team third.

The final stage with its five ranked climbs and category three mountaintop finish did not change the final podium. Wiggins took the overall win, with teammate Michael Rogers second and Evans third. Christopher Froome was fourth, giving Team Sky three of the top four slots.

Wiggins's lead was never in doubt over the stage, with Sky keeping a close eye on both the day's escape group and the competition for yellow. The dominant performance by both the captain and the team now make Wiggins the top favourite for the Tour de France.

Five more climbs and a mountaintop finish

The final stage of the Dauphine was anything but a simple run-in to the finish. Five ranked climbs were along the way, including the category one Col du Corbier only 24km from the finish.

Several small groups got away early on, before merging into a group of eight: Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana), Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack), Christophe Le Mével (Garmin), Sylvain Chavanel and Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega), Jerome Coppel (Saur) and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM). They never had much of a lead, and with 35km to go, only Chavanel, Rolland, Coppel and Westra were still away, with Chavanel the next to be dropped.

The trio took a 1:44 lead up the Corbier. Behind them, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was dropped on the climb, as he continued to struggle with injuries from a crash earlier in the race. Earlier Thomas Voeckler of Europcar had abandoned with knee problems.

Sky worked to protect Wiggins's lead, moving to the front of the field. BMC had the same idea, hoping to not only hold on to Evans's third place but perhaps also with a stage win in mind.

As the field neared the summit, a handful of riders tried to get away. They never really got away and eventually Wiggins himself calmly led the chase and catch.

It was a reduced field which flew down the many switchbacks of the descent. Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas-Cannondale was at the head of things, and, after having been dropped the previous day, took off in an apparent attempt to salvage what he could.

Westra seemed to be struggling on that climb, and fell back for good on the descent, leaving Coppel and Rolland alone in the lead. Nibali was rapidly approaching, and the field wasn't far away either.

Nibali and Westra joined forces, but the Italian was unable to hold on, soon dropping back to the field. Westra was soon caught by the BMC-led field, as well, and with 13km to go, the gap was down to about 30 seconds to the two leaders.

With the two leaders in sight, Alexandre Geniez of Argos-Shimano took off out of the field. With some 6km to go, he caught them, but the field was only a few second back.

By then Katusha had moved to the head of the field, and with 5km to go, Rolland and Coppel shook hands and resigned themselves to their fate. They still took a minimal lead up the closing climb, but with 2.4km to go, they were all caught.

Katusha roared up the climb, with Evans noticeably close to the front in his green points jersey.

Evans made his move, but it was Luis Leon Sanchez who looked to have made the decisive move with 250m to go. But Moreno went with him and was able to slip past him at the last second for the win. Evans took third.

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