Criterium du Dauphine: Spilak wins alone as Contador attacks Froome

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Simon Spilak took the second straight stage win for Katusha at the Criterium du Dauphine, winning solo in La Mure as the lone survivor of an 17-rider escape group.

Christopher Froome (Team Sky) crossed the finish line only seconds later in the chase group, defending his overall lead. However it was far from an easy day for the race leader and his Team Sky teammates.

Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) and Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) broke from the Froome group near the finish to take second and third. Kelderman is third overall, gaining enough seconds to move to the same time as second-placed Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), 12 seconds behind Froome.

In the final of the hilly stage that followed some of the Route Napoleon, Froome's rivals tried to put him and his team under pressure, revealing some weaknesses in the British team despite Richie Porte putting up a strong ride.

Contador attacked Froome with less than 30km to go, taking off on the final part of the late climb and then pushing out his lead on the descent. Along with teammate Sergio Paolinho, he gained up to a minute on the Team Sky-led field but the British team put up a fierce pace and gradually roped the Spaniard back in.

Attack followed attack in the closing kilometres as other riders tried to get away as Team Sky was unable to set a pace that discouraged attacks. An attempt by Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) led Froome himself to lead the chase at one point. Then Kelderman and Yates had more luck and strength, staying away to the end, as the first signs of weakness at Team Sky opened.

“Sometimes, days don't look so hard on paper and turn out to being very hard. That's what happened today when Contador went up the road and put us under pressure, “ Froome admitted

“But I asked my teammates to stay calm. They have done such a massive job today All of them did well and Richie Porte stepped up really well. Personally I'm feeling pretty good on the bike. I'm tired after the race but everyone is today. We also had to chase Kelderman at the end because anyone up there on GC is a rival to us. But it's going to be another race on Saturday in the big mountains.”

Spilak deserved his victory after being part of the break of the day and suffering in the heat.

"It's been a really hard stage with the heat and I don't like the heat at all. Only with 500 metres to go I've believed I could win the stage," he said.

"The chasing group was one minute behind but I wasn't sure. When I attacked in the first climb, I was far from thinking that I'd win the stage. Initially, I only followed the attacks. This is an incredible week for Team Katusha after Yury Trofimov's win yesterday. It's more than expected, especially with these hot conditions of racing."

How it unfolded

The day started at a furious pace with rider trying hard to get in the break of the stage, knowing it had a great chance of staying away.

With six categorized climbs and a total of 48 points for grabs in the fight for the polka dot jersey, several contenders for that classification had set their sights on the breakaway of the day. Several attacks came early but then the peloton eased after a big crash took out several riders. Jerome Pineau (IAM Cycling) was or of several riders who crashed out or were forced to retire.

When the race lit up again, Cannondale’s Alessandro de Marchi’s made it into a break of nine riders. He was ranked third in the mountain classification before the start and was a threat to the leader, Kevin Reza. Europcar refused go down without a fight and chased the break but it was fruitless as De Marchi survived out front thanks to help from teammate Damiano Caruso. The gap widened on the Col de Manse, the first climb of the day. The peloton also eased and eight other riders bridged to the leaders making a breakaway of 17 in total.

With 14 teams represented in the group, they had a good chance of staying away. As well as Caruso and his De Marchi, also in the move were the Ag2r-La Mondiale duo Mickael Cherel and Blel Kadri and the Katusha pair Spilak and Egor Silin.The other 11 teams were represented by one rider each. Jens Voigt (Trek Factory Racing), Christophe Le Mevel (Cofidis), Daryl Impey for Orica-Greenedge, Europcar’s Cyril Gautier, Stephan Denifl for IAM Cycling, BMC’s Darwin Atapuma, Jan Bakelants for Omega Pharma-QuickStep, French champion Arthur Vichot (FDJ.fr), Dries Devenyns for Giant-Shimano and Bartosz Huzarski for Netapp-Endura. The 17th rider, Bart de Clercq (Lotto-Belisol) was the best ranked rider at 2,47 from Froome and virtually wore the yellow jersey with a maximum lead of just over three and a half minutes.

De Marchi picked up most of the available points in the mountain classification and took the leader’s jersey off Kevin Reza. He now leads with 74 points, with Reza back on 44. However De Marchi faces a tough task in the big Alpine stages at the weekend.

On the final two category two climbs, several riders attacked the breakaway, looking to gain time. Back in the peloton, Alberto Contador did the same. The Spaniard jumped away and joined teammate Paolinho and quickly managed to take a considerable lead on yellow jersey Froome on the descent of the Col de la Morte and on the early part of the last climb of the day, the Cote de Laffrey. However Team Sky refused to panic even if the chase used up several of their riders. Fortunately Richie Porte was on an excellent ay and worked hard with Mikel Nieve, gradually the Tinkoff-Saxo rider back under control.

Spilak had attacked before Contador caught some of the break of the day and looked strong on the Cote de Laffrey. He has already won this year, beating Froome at the Tour de Romandie and opened up a lead of a minute on his chasers. That was enough to give him the stage victory despite a series of late attacks.

In the last five kilometres Adam Yates attacked the chasing group and Belkin’s Wilco Kelderman followed suit as Team Sky faded in the final kilometres. There was anarchy in the peloton, with other rider jumping away to try to steal a few seconds or test Froome's nerve.

Yates and Kelderman took a few hundred metres on the peloton and approached Spilak. On the line the Katusha rider had 14 seconds to spare on Kelderman and Yates and 17 seconds on the peloton.

On the first mountain finish the race seemed over, with Team Sky and Froome seeming unbeatable. Now Contador perhaps knows that is far from true, setting up a great finale at the weekend. 

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