Criterium du Dauphine: Boasson Hagen takes out stage win in Belley

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) continued his fine form this season with victory on the slightly-uphill sprint finish on stage 4 of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

The Norwegian came into the race with five victories – along with fifth at Paris-Roubaix – and punched the air in delight as he got the better of Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) to make it six.

The 176km route from Tain-l’Hermitage to Belley was largely flat, save for two fourth-category climbs, but the road began to rise in the final kilometre and Boasson Hagen took full advantage. Once round the final bend, he profited from the lack of coherent leadout trains and launched from range.

Only Alaphilippe – the young Frenchman who continues to demonstrate the diversity and depth of his talents – and stage 2 winner Bouhanni could get close, with Jens Debuscherre (Lotto Soudal), Greg van Avermaet (BMC) and Sam Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) coming home a couple of bike lengths behind. John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) was eighth and Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) ninth, while Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) – second on stage 3 – finished outside the top 10, as he did on stage 2.

"In the finale I had to go from far. Everyone was getting tired and I managed to stay ahead," said Boasson Hagen. "I'm very happy. It was the last opportunity for riders like me and I really wanted to do well today. It's been a great season so far and I'm getting better and better towards the Tour de France.

"It's nice to get a win for Dimension Data. It gives me an opportunity to send my best wishes to [Dimension Data continental team rider] Keagan Girdlestone [who had a life threatening crash on Sunday in Italy] for his recovery.”

Despite the bunch finish, a crash caused a late split in the peloton that had a small but significant impact on the general classification. Chris Froome, who often makes a point of riding near the front in such finales, was the main beneficiary as race leader Alberto Contador and second-placed Richie Porte both finished nine seconds back, along with most of the other members of the top 10, save for Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep).

Contador keeps his yellow jersey but Froome has now jumped up to second at just four seconds, while Alaphilippe, who collected six bonus seconds for his second place, swapped places with his teammate Martin, moving into fourth.

"The truth is that losing nine seconds don't bother me. What bothers me more is whether or not the rule of the last three kilometres gets applied," said a disgruntled Contador, referring to the rule that neutralises time splits in the event of a crash in the final 3km. 

A successful chase

Fabio Aru defied the sprinters with an opportunistic and daring solo victory on stage 3, but there was to be no such upset today.

The flat roads were not as amenable to holding off a chase as the sinuous downhill Aru found on the previous day, but that didn’t stop Maxime Bouet (Etixx-QuickStep) giving it a good go.

The Frenchman had been part of a three-man breakaway – along with Bryan Nauleau (Direct Energie) and Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) – since the gun, and was riding with the motivation of finishing in his home town of Belley. Towards the end of a slow and largely uneventful day in the saddle, in which headwinds and heavy roads made for a sluggish average speed of barely 30km/h in the first two hours, Bouet attacked his companions with 15km remaining.

Nauleau was immediately dropped and when Veuchelen managed to close the gap, Bouet immediately kicked again and went solo. By that stage the peloton, which had once been over five minutes back, was just 30 seconds in arrears. The Frenchman tucked his arms over his bars and ploughed on admirably, though he was powerless to prevent the inevitable and it was all together with 4km to go.

Cofidis, Giant-Alpecin, and Etixx-QuickStep, who clearly knew Alaphilippe was up for it, all moved to the front, though the run-in was disrupted slightly when Cofidis’ Borut Bozic clipped a concrete barrier and crashed heavily, bringing down Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) with him.

After that, there was no one team who really took control in the final two kilometres, but Nathan Haas performed an important shepherding role in providing the platform for Boasson Hagen to deliver his winning sprint.

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