Froome wins stage 5 of the Criterium du Dauphine

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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.

Only Richie Porte (BMC) could follow when Froome launched his vicious acceleration 2,500 metres from the summit of the finishing climb, and though the Australian shared the pace-setting in the final kilometre, he was unable to match his former teammate’s final searing effort with 220 metres remaining.

In a high-octane finale, Froome had delegated his teammate Mikel Landa to go on the offensive on the lower slopes of the climb, and the Basque duly inched past earlier escapee Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) on the steepest section, only to be caught and passed in turn by his leader with a little more than two kilometres to go.

“It's an amazing feeling. It's always good to win a race before the Tour de France. The team rode very well day to take me to the final climb in the best position. They set it up perfectly for me,” Froome said. “I didn't expect to gain time on Alberto Contador on such a short climb.”

Contador was tucked on Froome’s wheel at the time of the decisive attack but was simply unable to follow the Briton, who surged clear with disarming facility, burning the Spaniard off his wheel. It was immediately clear that Contador would lose his jersey, and he battled to limit his losses in the company of Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), eventually placing fifth on the stage, 21 seconds behind Froome.

In the general classification, Porte lies second, just 7 seconds behind Froome, while Contador slips to third overall, 27 seconds down. The Etixx-QuickStep duo of Martin and Julian Alaphilippe are fourth and fifth, 37 seconds and 42 seconds adrift, respectively.

“To be honest it was better than expected. It was a hard day and fast and today showed I’m in good place,” Porte said. “That I could go with Froome like that is a good sign for me.”

Early attacks

Some seven categorised climbs were shoehorned into just 140 kilometres of racing on Friday, making for a keenly-contested stage from the very outset. The early exchange saw a 25-strong group forge clear, with Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data) doing enough on the early climbs to move into the polka dot jersey by day’s end. “I won the King of the Mountains competition last year and of course it's my goal to win it again this year,” he said.

60 kilometres in, after the day’s fifth ascent, the Col des Mouilles, only Andriy Grivko (Astana) remained off the front from the initial break and he was later joined by Cyril Gautier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Dayer Quintana (Movistar), Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Bartosz Huzarski (Bora Argon 18).

That quintet collaborated smoothly in the long value that followed and reached Vizille, home of the late Thierry Claveyrolat, with a lead of 2:20 over a peloton that was being driven by Contador’s Tinkoff squad.

The leading group began to fragment on the final, 6-kilometre climb to the line, with Gasparotto eventually forging on alone, while FDJ performed much of the early pace-setting in the peloton Team Sky took up the reins with a shade over five kilometres remaining, before Landa bounded clear and set off in pursuit of Gasparotto.

After Contador’s teammate Roman Kreuziger took over at the head of the dwindling yellow jersey group, a number of general classification contenders were dropped, including Fabio Aru (Astana) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), though the endgame only began in earnest when Dan Martin unfurled a crisp acceleration with 3 kilometres to go.

Only Porte, Contador and Sergio Henao (Sky) could follow the Irishman at first, with Froome briefly distanced, though the Briton managed to claw his way back up within 400 metres or so. Shortly afterwards, Froome moved to the front, and then turned to look at the bobbing Contador before launching a rasping attack of his own with 2.5 kilometres remaining.

Porte was again able to follow, but the others were scattered across the mountainside. The Froome-Porte tandem breezed past Landa, while Contador, Martin et al attempted to marshal a pursuit.

Adam Yates and Martin proved the best of the rest as Contador struggled and Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) came in 25 seconds down ahead of Pierre Rolland (Cannondale), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and a noteworthy Alaphilippe. It was a trying day, however, for Aru, who conceded 1:57, and Pinot, who lost 2:31.

An even more demanding leg follows on stage 6, as the Dauphiné tackles the Col de la Madeleine en route to another summit finish at Méribel. Despite Contador’s struggles here, Froome anticipated a fresh onslaught from the Spaniard on Saturday.

“I know from past experiences that he never gives up. We'll see what he's got tomorrow,” Froome said. “There's still a hard stage to come tomorrow so I haven't won the Dauphiné yet.”
 

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