Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) enhanced his already growing reputation as a breakaway specialist with a superb victory on the final day of the Criterium du Dauphine, as Chris Froome (Team Sky) managed to control one last attack from Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and so secure overall victory.

A late surge to the finish by Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) gave him second on the stage and enough seconds to move up to third place overall, at 19 seconds. Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) went with him to hold onto second place, 12 seconds down on Froome but that cost Richie Porte (BMC) his place on the final podium. The Australian bumped shoulders and seemed to lock bikes with Froome as the attacks began. He lost a chance to jump after Martin, lost time and so slipped to fourth overall at 21 seconds. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) finished fifth at 35 seconds but had the minor consolation of taking the lead in the UCI WorldTour rankings.

Half way into the ascent Col du Noyer, with just 15km to race, Contador attacked twice and forced Froome to chase him alone. It was a brave move but Froome was there after his teammates dragged him across and they were joined by Bardet and Porte, as Martin and the others chased over the top. However the leading riders came back together on the descent and Froome's bodyguards: Poels, Landa and Henao also got back on, to control the peloton and the fight for the overall classification until the final-kilometre surge.

It was Froome's third victory at the Criterium du Dauphine and the fifth for Team Sky, just three weeks out from the start of the Tour de France. Team Sky's strength in depth made a significant difference during the key stages, allowing Froome to step in to defend his race lead only when under direct threat.

"It's a massive satisfaction to win the Dauphiné for the third time. It's a very important race in the calendar," Froome said.

"Coming into this week, I was just happy fighting for the podium. Sitting here with the yellow-blue jersey is an amazing feeling. The last few days, we went flat out and today was no different. My teammates came back to help me control the race at the end. I knew via radio that Landa, Henao and Poels were coming across. But we almost crashed together near the end and that caused the gap that cost Richie [Porte] his spot on the podium. I feel sorry for him but he's in a fantastic form ahead of July. He'll be one of the main contenders at the Tour too.

"This is a great time for me to have a win under the belt. It's a boost of confidence ahead of the Tour de France but there's still some work to do before July. I'm not at my best yet. I hope to reach that by the start of the Tour de France. I've not raced much this year in order to be at my best during the third week of the Tour."

Rule Britannia

With Cummings also winning the stage, it was a moment of Rule Britannia –as the official race reports dubbed it, on the final stage of the Dauphine. It was also an excellent day for Dimension Data and African cycling, as Edvald Boasson Hagen hung on and suffered on the climbs to win the green points jersey and Daniel Teklehaimanot won the red polka-dot climber's jersey after being in the break with Cummings.

Cummings is remembered for his Tour de France victory last year, when he outwitted both Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale). He has now won three WorldTour stages in 2016, all with classy and intelligent racing.

This time he was part of the 20-rider break that formed early on the stage. It was a strong move but also included Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Ben Gastauer (AG2R-La Mondiale), Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Katusha), Tony Gallopin and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Ryder Hesjedal (Trek-Segafredo), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), Jack Bauer and Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale), Jérôme Coppel (IAM Cycling), Bartosz Huzarski and Paul Voss (Bora-Argon 18) and Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida).

Cummings bided his time until Teklehaimanot took some key climber's points on the early climbs but then took off alone with 50 kilometres remaining. It was a huge effort, that splintered the break but he opened a significant lead, despite a head wind on the long Col de Moissière, and then finished off the task with a determined ride to the finish.

"It's getting harder and harder to win but I felt I had to try to force something. This is the day I picked out before race. I was just thinking that going in the break was good training for the Tour de France but I also knew that there wouldn't be many riders left and that the favourites would watch each other," Cummings explained.

"There was a head wind on the big climb but knew that if I got through that I had a chance. Of course I still had two climbs after that and so it was hard. This is third WorldTour stage win (this season) so it's really good."

The Criterium du Dauphine represented the final stage race for most of those focused on the Tour de France. Some will ride their national championships in two weeks time but the rest will now recover and prepare for the Tour de France which begins on Saturday July 2 in the northern Le Manche area of France.

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