Criterium du Dauphine: Aru wins stage 3 in Tournon-sur-Rhone

Fabio Aru (Astana) swooped to victory on stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Tournon-sur-Rhône thanks to a daring attack on the descent of the day's final climb, the Côte de Sécheras.

After conceding ground in both Sunday's stiff opening time trial and the uphill finish at Chalmazel-Jeansagnière, Aru suggested that his ambitions for the race would be limited to chasing stage wins, though not even he could have expected that victory would arrive on a day seemingly earmarked for the sprinters.

"I tried my luck on the climb, and then I decided to push on as hard as I could on the descent but I never imagined it would end up like this," Aru said after finishing two seconds clear of a peloton that was led home in a sprint by Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).

The category 2 Côte de Sécheras – not to mention the sinuous descent that followed – would complicate matters for the fast men, however, and Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) ignited the finale by powering clear alone on the climb. Aru quickly formed a determined chasing group with Pierre Rolland (Cannondale) and Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida), and they were just 10 seconds behind Martin as they crested the summit with 20 kilometres remaining.

Aru's group swelled to eight riders when his teammate Luis Leon Sanchez led a delegation that included Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and Mikel Landa (Sky) across on the plateau that followed, and they soon pegged back Martin.

By that point, the peloton was almost within touching distance of the leaders and when Aru began forcing on the front at the beginning of the descent proper, it seemed as though his effort was more in hope than expectation. With 11 kilometres remaining, his lead was just five seconds over a peloton that was being led by Katusha and Bora-Argon 18, but as the road became more tortuous, he slowly began to add to his buffer.

Seven kilometres from home, Aru's advantage stood at seven seconds, but the peloton's progress began to stall as the corners came thick and fast on the drop to the finish. A number of riders were brought to a halt amid the tumult, with race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) among them. The Spaniard required a bike change before latching back on to finish safely in the main peloton.

Aru's daring on the descent, combined with the general confusion in the peloton on the same terrain meant that he had a gap of 15 seconds as he entered the final two kilometres, and he still held the bulk of that advantage as he passed under the flamme rouge.

As the road flattened out in the final thousand metres and Aru repeatedly looked over his shoulder, it appeared as though he would be denied at the death, but after lifting himself out of the saddle one last time in the finishing straight, the Sardinian held on to claim stage honours.

A frustrated Kristoff took the sprint for second place ahead of Niccolò Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo), while Contador rolled home in the body of the peloton to retain the yellow and blue jersey, six seconds clear of Richie Porte (BMC), 13 ahead of Chris Froome (Sky) and 21 up on Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep).

Tour de France

The early part of the stage was animated by a three-man move comprising Niki Terpstra (Etixx-QuickStep), Thomas De Gent (Lotto Soudal) and Dimitri Claeys (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), though their lead was never allowed to edge north of six minutes.

The later arrival of Cyril Gautier (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Perrig Quémeneur (Direct Energie) did little to help their cause as Katusha and Cofids made light of the heavy roads to peg back their lead ahead of the Côte de Sécheras with 26 kilometres remaining.

Bora-Argon 18 set a steady tempo on the climb in a bid to help Sam Bennett's cause but Tony Martin's acceleration would ultimately change the complexion of the stage, and indirectly lead to Aru's surprising cameo.

The win was Aru's seventh as a professional and his first-ever to come outside of the Grand Tours, with his previous victories coming at the Giro d'Italia (one stage win in 2014 and two in 2015) and the Vuelta a España, where he secured two stage wins in 2014 and took overall victory last year. His 2016 campaign, of course, is built around his Tour de France debut.

"The Tour is the main objective of this year and I'm looking to prepare for it as best I can. The Dauphiné is a very important part of that, and then afterwards I'll be in the mountains again in Sestriere," said Aru, who, as is his wont, had a low-key spring where a second-place finish on the mountain stage of the Volta ao Algarve was the stand-out result.

"It will be my first Tour so I'd prefer to keep my feet on the ground. Obviously it's a race that fascinates me a lot. I'm very curious to see what it will be like."

The 26-year-old Aru has been designated as Astana's leader for the Tour from the very outset of the season, but he will share top billing – if not necessarily the captaincy – with Vincenzo Nibali, who underlined his status by winning the Giro d'Italia last month.

Astana have essentially built two distinct teams around their two leaders, to the extent that last year's Vuelta is the only time the Italian pair have lined up together since the 2013 Giro d'Italia – and Nibali, of course, was expelled from that race after just two days. Aru struck a diplomatic note on Wednesday afternoon when asked about cohabiting with Nibali in July.

"There'll be two of us, Vincenzo and me. We'll be looking to do really well, we've got a very strong team," Aru said. "It's better to have a rider like that on your team than in another."

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