Voeckler wins Dauphine stage in Grenoble

Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) took his first win of the 2013 season with a true-to-character aggressive ride at the Criterium du Dauphine.

The Frenchman was one of four riders in the remnants of a break group which successfully stayed away to the end of the hilly stage. Second place went to Jose Herrada Lopez (Movistar) and third to Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana), with his teammate Egor Silin finishing fourth after the two failed to take advantage of the numerical superiority.

The peloton crossed the finish line some 46 seconds later, with Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) taking the sprint. Christopher Froome (Team Sky) was safely in the group and so kept the overall race lead ahead of teammate Richie Porte.

Voeckler was the obvious candidate for the stage win as soon as the group formed on the Col du Barioz, midway through the 143km stage. He calmly countered the Astana attacks early on, never rode on the front in the last few kilometers, and was rewarded with victory.

Success will boost Voeckler's morale for the Tour de France and boost the hopes of his team as they try to find a second sponsor for a shot at WorldTour status in 2014.

How it happened

It took a while for the first break to get away on the fast flat and downhill roads but some 50km into the stage, Assan Bazayev (Astana), Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp-Endura)) made the leap and got a gap. They never had more than a minute and a half, and were caught again after the first climb, the category 4 Cote d'Arvillard climb.

In an exchange of riders up the road, an eight-man group which formed on the climb up the day's big one: the category 1 Col du Barioz. Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol), Kevin Seeldraeyers and Egor Silin (both Astana), Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar), Jose Herrada (Movistar), and Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) formed this group, with no doubts of Voeckler's intentions of driving the move in the hope of winning the stage.

The move never opened a large lead, but managed to stay away on the climb and the subsequent rolling roads. The pace was high enough, and the climbs difficult enough that it made the expected mass sprint finish seem unlikely. Geniez was the highest ranked in the group at 3:41 minutes down, enough so that Team Sky kept an eye on the group and could let them go, but only so far.

The gap had risen to 2:50 with 50 km to go, and shortly thereafter de Gendt pushed the tempo, dropping Wellens from the group. Then behind them, Omega Pharma-QuickStep took charge, looking to protect Gianni Meersman's green jersey and hopefully bring him into position for a sprint. Sylvain Chavanel and Tony Martin did some huge efforts to chase the break and ensure other sprinters were left behind.

With 30 km to go the gap had dropped to just under two minutes and the lead group splintered, leaving only Seeldraeyers, Silin, Herrada and Voeckler in the lead. Thy four worked well together, and cleverly managed to maintain their lead.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step and BMC did their best, but were unable to catch the quartet and by the 10km to go marker, it was clear that the break would now stay away until the end.

With two kilometres to go the four riders were still eyeing one another and the games were just starting. Silin tried an attack and Voeckler countered but the four went under the flamme rouge all together.

Seeldraeyers jumped again with four hundred metres to go and this time Voeckler went after him and then past him, accelerating all the way to the line to taking the win.

Astana was unable to take advantage of its numerical advantage and took only third and fourth on the stage, with Herrada Lopez third.

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