Criterium du Dauphine: Pinot wins in Meribel

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) won the battle with fellow Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) to win the Queen stage of the Criterium di Dauphine in Meribel, as Chris Froome and his Team Sky teammates rode a tactical race in the Alpine mountains before gaining a handful of seconds on their rivals with a final surge to the line.

Pinot and Bardet were part of a front group that formed over the massive Col de la Madeleine. They opened a gap of 3:00 on Froome but his Team Sky teammates Wout Poels, Sergio Henao and Mikel Landa did an excellent job and gradually closed the gap before Froome used his late speed to bring it down to close to a minute.

In the final kilometre Froome surged away from Richie Porte (BMC) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) with Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep). It was a late, short effort on the 12km climb to the finish but allowed Froome to gain a handful of seconds on his closest rivals. However Bardet is now also a threat to Froome’s yellow jersey with one final mountain stage left to race. Porte is second overall at 21 seconds, with Bardet third at the same time. Martin moved up to fourth at 30 seconds, with Contador slipping to fifth at 35 seconds. Sunday’s final and decisive stage is from Le Pont de Claix near Grenoble to Superdévoluy. It is a tough final day with six categorised climbs.

“I've been put under pressure but the guys were super controlled. I really owe it all to my teammates today, each of every one of them emptied themselves for me to keep this jersey,” Froome acknowledged.

“The pressure started when Alberto attacked on the Madeleine. We had to pull him back otherwise we'd be in trouble. And then even in the finale with Bardet up front. At one stage he was going to get the yellow so my guys had to get that gap down. Then Dan Martin went to the line for third place. I just did everything I could to try and follow him. I was surprised to see there was a bit of a gap to Richie and Alberto.”

“I definitely needed those extra seconds ahead of tomorrow. It would be amazing to win the Dauphiné for the third time, especially in the build up to the Tour de France. But I don't take anything for granted. If tomorrow is anything like today, it's gonna be a really tough stage tomorrow again.”

Pinot emotional and happy

Pinot was more emotive that Froome and celebrated his stage victory by punching the air. He had gritted his teeth and suffered to respond to attacks by Bardet. He admitted he had not been on a good day.

“I find it hard to realize what's happening because I only got good feelings at the end. I was struggling all day,” he said. “Had I been told in the climb to of the Madeleine that I was going to win, I wouldn't have believed it. I was feeling average like the previous days so I didn't expect to do well here.”

Pinot questioned why Bardet attacked him but admitted victory had helped exorcise their defeat by Steve Cummings at last year’s Tour de France. It was Pinot’s fifth win of the 2016 season as he also looks for his best form just three weeks out from the Tour de France.

“I don't know what happened in the finale. If he hadn't attacked, we could have done better, especially for Romain on GC but it's good to see two Frenchmen at the front. I'm happy, we've had our revenge after last year at the Tour de France in Mende.”

A short but intense and very tactical stage

The 141km stage was relatively short at 141km but was like a jaw’s tooth with two early climbs, the 19km Col de la Madeleine in the middle and then the final 12km climb up to the finish in Meribel.

The stage was always going to include a fight for the day’s victory and the tense, more tactical battle for the general classification. The two combined on the Col de la Madeleine to make for a great day’s racing but sadly there was no television coverage of the action.

The attacks started from the gun with 24 riders initially making the move on the early climbs and others joining to create a 27-rider group.

In the move were Ben Hermans (BMC), Kiserlovski and Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff), Thibaut Pinot and Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Laurens De Plus and Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step), Grivko and Sanchez (Astana), Bakelants, Mikaël Chérel and Ben Gastauer (AG2R-La Mondiale), Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Katusha), Tony Gallopin and Louis Vervaeke (Lotto-Soudal), Serge Pauwels and Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data), Marc Soler (Movistar), Thomas Voeckler, Perrig Quémeneur and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Cesare Benedetti and Patrick Konrad (Bora-Argon 18), Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida).

Andriy Grivko (Astana), Jan Bakelants (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) also bridged the gap in the ascent to the col du Grand Cucheron to complete a 27-man leading group.

Teklehaimanot took the early climber’s points but paid for his efforts on the slopes of the Madeleine and was dropped. Other riders were dropped too as two races began. Behind Alberto Contador and Jesper Hansen (Tinkoff) attacked together with Fabio Aru (Astana), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Dayer Quintana (Movistar) and Björn Thurau (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

It was a threatening attack but like Contador’s other attacks this week, it soon ran out of steam after Team Sky used its combined strength and climbing anility to chase the move down. Contador accelerated again two kilometres before the summit but again was pulled back.

Upfront Pinot was first over the hors-category climb of the Madeleine but was then quickly distanced by Chérel and Vervaeke on the descent. Froome and Contador crested la Madeleine together, 1:20 behind Pinot. 

After the long descent and rolling roads to the foot of the Montée des Frasses, 19 riders gathered in the front group but they were quickly shaken out with Aru one of the first and worst to crack. The young Sardinian still has a lot of work to do if he wants to compete with Froome and Contador in the Tour de France.

A tactical finale

Ten riders reached the final climb up to Méribel together after a superb piece of riding by AG2R-La Mondiale for Bardet. Gastauer, Chérel and Bakelants all did huge turns on the valley roads to ensure the group was 3:00 clear of the Froome chase group, with Bardet set up for the final climb.

He attacked early, with 10km still to go and only his long-time French rival Pinot could get cross to him. They worked hard together as behind them Team Sky used up Poels, Henao and then Landa to chase and control them. It is a scenario we are likely to see often come July.

Keen to win the stage, Bardet attacked his compatriot with three kilometres to go but didn't drop him off and only angered Pinot, who then refused to help with the work. It was an error that perhaps cost Bardet, especially after the great work of his teammates but he still tried to fight for victory, kicking hard alongside Pinot. However the FDJ rider had a little bit more power and ager and managed to move ahead and hit the line first.

Behind Dan Martin finally kicked off the hostilities and Froome jumped on his wheel to be dragged up the steepest part of the climb and ahead of his other GC rivals. Froome managed to reduce Bardet’s gap to a minute and so keep the yellow jersey while also gaining a handful of seconds on Porte and especially Contador. It was a hard day out for so little gain but could and should be enough to secure overall victory if the same levels of individual and team strength go on show during Sunday’s final stage.

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