Full live coverage of stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné - 140km from La Ravoire to Vaujany with a summit finish.
Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of the Dauphiné. It’s stage 5 today, and the first summit finish of the race. The GC men have been able to keep their powder relatively dry since the opening prologue – though their were late splits yesterday – but today signals the start of the true fight for the yellow jersey.
So, the riders have gathered in La Ravoire, where we have another beautiful day. They've signed on and will shortly be rolling out for the neutralised section. Racing proper is expected to begin at around 13:30 local time.
Shorts and t-shirt weather for our own Daniel Benson, who has just grabbed a word with Chris Froome.
Here's what today's stage looks like:
As you can see, it's a far from gentle start to the day, with no fewer than six categorised climbs in the first 80km. Things calm down somewhat thereafter, but the road rises sharply again at the end of the stage with the final climb to Vaujany, with ramps of well over 10%.
The riders roll out of La Ravoire
Here's how the GC stands after four stages
The flag drops and racing is underway. With plenty of early climbs there should be a fair bit of interest in getting into the break.
A couple of DNS's to tell you about.
It's a fast and furious start to the day as the peloton is strung out into a long line. Tinkoff and those wanting to control things will have to be vigilant about who's allowed to go up the road.
"It's a short stage and that's going to make it hard to control," says BMC's Richie Porte, 3rd overall.
John Degenkolb goes on the attack, curiously, and is joined by Greg Van Avermaet and Tony Martin. The powers that be in the peloton, however, are having none of it and it's all back together.
Movistar's Rubén Fernández, who won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2013, has had to abandon the race following a crash in the neutral zone.
We're well onto this short third-category climb now and some riders are getting dropped, including Michal Kwiatkowski, who is struggling here with illness.
Kwiatkowski's teammate Woet Poels attacks and drags some riders with him - Ben Hermans (BMC), Perrig Quémeneur (Direct Energie), Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida) and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale).
Grmay grabs the two KOM points at the top, with Hermans bagging one, but Tinkoff have brought things back together.
A short descent now before the riders hit the second climb of the day - the fourth-category Côte d'Arvillard. It's 2.2km long at 5.3%.
More attacks now as we reach the foot of this next climb. There's a sizeable group with a slim advantage over the peloton.
The move is shut down and the fast pace here is seeing other riders dropped, including Nacer Bouhanni.
Expressive Frenchman Thomas Voeckler skips away to take the sole KOM point at the top of the climb.
Voeckler gets a gap with Vuillermoz and Grmay tries to bridge but, once again, they are brought back.
A couple of short climbs out of the way, but now onto the serious stuff.
We’ll see how things unfold on the road today," Chris Froome told us this morning. "We’ve a great team here and we’ll use that to our advantage. The [final] climb is very steep so we’ll see how selective is it.
Voeckler, Grmay, and Vuillermoz did in fact manage to hold off the peloton and they're still maintaining a slim lead at the head of the race. A large chase group has gathered behind them.
Onto the Col du Barioz now as Tinkoff keep maintain the pressure on the front of the bunch.
It's getting scrappy as the gradients ramp up, and some of the chasers are managing to make it to the head of the race. The peloton is about 30 seconds back at the moment.
103km remaining from 140km
We're onto the upper slopes of this climb and the peloton have knocked it back a little - they're now over a minute behind.
The big chase group has joined up with the leaders so we now have a huge group of around 25 leading the race. We'll bring you the make-up of the group shortly, but the peloton are coming back...
The lead group:
Here's the results at the top of the Col du Barioz
Contador has placed two men in the break in Kreuziger and Kiserlovski. It's Contador's other teammates who lead the peloton, around 1:15 behind.
94km remaining from 140km
The peloton, still led by Tinkoff, begin to eat into the breakaway's advantage.
45 seconds is the gap now. This climb isn't long but it's pretty steep.
Teklehaimanot once again skips away to take maximum points at the top of the climb. He could be riding his way into the polka dot jersey.
KOM results at the Col des Ayes
Confirmed: Teklehaimanot will be the new wearer of the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification at the end of the day.
84km remaining from 140km
Poels upsets the party and grabs the solitary point at the top of the climb.
The breakaway is now beginning to break up.
We're heading gently downhill now and the peloton, currently led by Astana, is over a minute behind.
It's worth remembering that Ryder Hesjedal is only 49 seconds down on GC, so at the moment he's the virtual leader of the race.
78km remaining from 140km
Away from the racing itself, there was an announcement this morning that Orica will be ending their sponsorship of the Orica-GreenEdge team at the end of 2017.
The peloton has really put its foot on the gas in the rolling section between these two climbs. They're closing in on the big group now.
Regroupement
65km remaining from 140km
We're now moving onto our next climb - the Côte de la Sarrazine.
Some counter attacks have been going off the front of the bunch but nothing has been allowed to stick as the road heads uphill.
After his efforts to secure the polka dot jersey, Teklehaimanot has dropped off the back of this chasing group and is being reeled in by the peloton.
58km remaining from 140km
News coming in that Kris Boeckmans has abandoned the race. Boeckmans endured a tough winter following a horrible crash at last year's Vuelta a Espana but made his comeback to racing at the Handzame classic in March.
Grivko has been caught by a group of four chasers, who are Cyril Gautier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Dayer Quintana (Movistar), Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Bartosz Huzarski (Bora Argon 18). The peloton is 2:40 behind now.
The riders have got a long descent now before the road levels out for the briefest of moments and then they'll be climbing again towards the final, crucial ascent.
Tinkoff are doing the pace setting on the front of the bunch, they'll want to make sure that Contador doesn't get caught behind anything today.
If you haven't done so already, take a listen to our latest podcast with special guest Richie Porte.
44km remaining from 140km
Tinkoff has pulled the gap back a little to 2:25 as they reach the bottom of the descent but they're happy to have these guys out front for now.
With the gaps as they are for now, Dayer Quintana is the virtual leader. The younger brother of Nairo, he began the day just 1:39 behind Contador. Quintana won the Tour de San Luis earlier this season.
38km remaining from 140km
34km remaining from 140km
Teklehaimanot is sitting at the back of the bunch with Stephen Cummings for company. He'll just want to make it home safely with the polka dot jersey already his.
30km remaining from 140km
The gap currently stands at 2:10 as the peloton strings out due to the work of Tinkoff.
Tinkoff, Sky, Astana, BMC - most with a full complement of riders. That's the order in the peloton, which is largely a single file line.
25km remaining from 140km
After yesterday's stage we spoke to Tinkoff owner Oleg Tinkov. As ever, the Russian had some interesting opinions...
It's Michael Gogl now doing a turn on the front of the bunch. The gap to the break, however, is holding steady at the moment at 2 minutes.
18km remaining from 140km
Contador has dropped back to the middle of the bunch. Not sure why - maybe to have a chat with one of his rivals?
A blow for Kwiatkowski ahead of the Tour
Tinkoff seem to have burned all their matches and they haven't made any real impact in the bid to peg back the break.
11km remaining from 140km
This is what it looks like
BMC, Movistar, and FDJ are now grouping at the front of the peloton.
The road pitches uphill for the leaders ahead of the final climb and their lead begins to fall.
1:30 is the gap now as the peloton powers up this sharp rise to the lake. Riders getting shelled out the back here.
It doesn't look like the break will be contesting the stage win at this rate as FDJ take it up back on the flat.
6km remaining from 140km
Etixx take it up now on the approach to the climb. They have Alaphilippe and Dan Martin well-placed on GC.
Gasparotto attacks!
Quintana gets over to the wheel, Gautier is currently desperately trying to get on terms. The other two are dropped.
Hesjedal, 11th on GC, is dropped from the bunch.
Mikel Landa attacks from the bunch. Sky have been in offensive mode so far at the Dauphiné
Gautier hasn't managed to bridge to Gasparotto and Quintana, so we have two men at the head of the race.
Gasparotto now drops Quintana
The pace is really high in the bunch here as Contador comes to the fore.
Lots of riders being dropped as the peloton thins out. Boasson Hagen loses contact.
The main favourites are all here in the bunch but they're all out of the saddle as the gradients ramp up and the hairpins come.
Landa catches and passes Quintana but the bunch are only a handful of seconds behind.
Gasparotto has 20 seconds.
3km remaining from 140km
Pinot has been dropped from the group of favourites.
Landa drops Gasparotto now.
3km remaining from 140km
Henao follows Martin, as do Contador and Porte, but Froome and the rest have been distanced slightly.
2km remaining from 140km
Froome now attacks!
Bluffing? Landa's lead is wiped out as Froome puts in a searing injection of pace.
Contador follows, as does Porte.
Martin and Bardet distanced
Froome drives again and he drops Contador!
Porte is just about on terms but Contador is well back, really struggling here.
2km remaining from 140km
Dan Martin comes back and is now the third man on the road. He has Contador on his wheel, with the rest of the group several seconds behind.
1km remaining from 140km
1km remaining from 140km
500 metres to go. 10, 6, 4 bonus seconds on the line, remember.
The road pitches up again slightly to the line. Froome or Porte for the win?
Froome comes through and leads it out. Will Porte come round?
Froome wins stage 5 of the Dauphiné
Martin and Yates come home next. Contador is one second behind them, 19 seconds back on Froome.
Froome is the new leader of the race, by six or seven seconds over Porte.
Froome got out of the saddle and took that sprint in commanding fashion, while Porte was forced to stay in the saddle and settle for second place.
Top 10
General Classification after stage 5
Not a huge amount of change in the top 10 as Jesus Herrada drops out and Louis Meintjes moves up. Impressive stuff from Adam Yates, third on the stage, who strengthens his position.
Froome steps onto the podium to pull on that familiar yellow jersey
What a win from Froome - and what a statement of intent. Dropping Contador there will represent a significant psychological blow ahead of the Tour de France.
Another dose of deja vu now as Daniel Teklehaimanot steps onto the podium to collect the polka dot jersey that he won outright last year.
Here are the new KOM standings
Our brief stage report and results can be found here
Another big day tomorrow as well...
We've just grabbed a word with Richie Porte
Froome on the offensive
So, our focus turns to tomorrow's stage 6. It's the penultimate stage of the race and probably the most decisive.
Here's what Porte had to say about it:
Plenty of great shots in our stage 5 gallery
"The pendulum at the Critérium du Dauphiné swung towards Chris Froome on the first of its three decisive legs in the high mountains as the Sky rider claimed stage victory at Vaujany to divest Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) of the yellow jersey of race leader."
And with that we'll leave you for today. We'll be back again tomorrow for full live coverage of the queen stage of the Dauphiné - certainly not one to be missed. Thanks for joining us today and we hope to see you again tomorrow.
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