Criterium du Dauphine: Kennaugh wins at Alpe d'Huez

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Peter Kennaugh (Sky) soloed clear to win atop Alpe d’Huez on stage 7 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, while Richie Porte (BMC) moved closer to final victory after he distanced Chris Froome (Sky) on the final ascent to stretch his overall lead to beyond a minute with one stage to go.

It was a tale of two races on the Dauphiné’s penultimate day, which brought the peloton over the Col de Sarenne for a novel approach to a familiar finish at Alpe d’Huez. Out in front, Kennaugh and his former teammate Ben Swift (UAE-Emirates) began the final, truncated haul towards to the line as the final survivors from the early break of 17 riders, while behind, Porte kept tabs on his overall rivals before unfurling a crisp attack of his own in the finale.

It was only to be expected that Kennaugh – battling for a berth on Sky’s Tour team – would be among the strongmen as the break hit the mighty Col de Sarenne, but Swift’s presence on the front was perhaps more surprising. Swift was impressive, however, first in clawing his way back up to the initial selection that formed on the Sarenne, and then in tracking Kennaugh’s acceleration near the summit.

14 kilometres separated the top of the Sarenne from the finish, and the two Britons combined well on the ridge that wound around to the final 3.7-kilometre haul to Alpe d’Huez. As soon as the road began to climb once again, however, their brief alliance dissolved, as Kennaugh, mindful of Swift’s finishing speed, attacked on the steepest section.

Swift refused to yield, stalking Kennaugh all the way up the climb, but he eventually had to settle for second place, 12 seconds behind the Manxman. “It’s incredible. It's always hard to win a mountain stage like this but I usually have good form in June and July,” Kennaugh said. “Chapeau to Ben for staying with me up there. Initially he was there to help [UAE-Emirates teammate Diego] Ulissi, but we've known each other since we were nine years old so I knew he's someone who’s able to climb. I wasn't confident I could beat him in a sprint, so I had to get rid of him at the bottom of the last climb.”

While Kennaugh was grinding to stage victory, his team leader Froome was began to show signs of faltering. A spirited Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) attack aside, the expected flurry of accelerations from the GC men on the Col de Sarenne never quite materialised, though when Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) tried a probing effort near the top, it was notable that the yellow jersey Porte was immediately onto his wheel, while Froome was a little slower in closing him down.

Porte must have been encouraged by what he saw and felt on the Sarenne. When Fabio Aru (Astana) accelerated at the base of the shortened climb to Alpe d’Huez, Sky were setting the tempo in the yellow jersey group for Froome, but Porte didn’t stand on ceremony. The Australian scorched across to Aru with Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) on his wheel, and he continued to pile on the pressure thereafter.

Inside the final two kilometres, Fuglsang was the only man able to follow Porte as he accelerated once again, while Froome simply looked to limit the damage behind. Porte picked his way through the remnants of the early break to place 6th on the stage, 1:56 down on Kennaugh, but 23 seconds ahead of Froome, who came home with Valverde, Louis Meintjes (UAE-Emirates) and white jersey Emanuel Buchman (Bora-Hansgrohe).

In the overall standings, Porte carries a lead of 1:02 over Froome into the final day, while Fuglsang lies third, 1:15 back. Aru, who conceded 17 seconds to the Porte-Fuglsang tandem is 4th overall, 1:41 back. “Attack was the best form of defence in the finale,” Porte said. “My team incredibly covered the moves of the best riders and they did fantastic work.”

Attacks

The biggest gains on the day were made by Bardet, whose attack on the Sarenne saw him take fifth on the stage and claw back 41 seconds on Porte to move up to 7th overall. Elsewhere, Contador limited his losses on Porte to just 8 seconds and declared himself pleased with his afternoon.

“Today I knew the finish and I said to myself that I’d try and follow Richie for as far as I could,” Contador said. “In the final few hundred meters he went a bit stronger and I preferred to go easier as I was at the limit. The rest of the rivals were behind me but it’s not important if it was five seconds, eight seconds or more. It’s just important that I’m going better and better.”

Froome, meanwhile, looked to draw solace from Kennaugh’s victory. He will be keenly aware – as if he weren’t already – that his former lieutenant Porte will be formidable foe come July. “I’m pretty happy with the general feelings. I knew that I had a bit more work to do coming in here but I think that this week of racing has been just what I needed to move me on in terms of getting the race feeling back,” Froome said.

“It was a big victory for the team from Pete. For me personally, it was a tough day backing up after yesterday. I struggled a little bit in the final and lost a bit of time to the main GC guys. I paid for it on the last climb. I just didn’t have the legs.”

How it unfolded

Despite a brisk start to proceedings, it wasn’t until the first climb, the category 4 Côte de Berland, that the break went clear, with Kennaugh leading over the summit and bringing Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r La Mondiale), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Soudal), Ignatas Konovalovas (FDJ), Maurits Lammertink (Katusha-Alpecin), Lennard Hofstede (Sunweb), Antonio Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), Scott Thwaites (Dimension Data), Ben Swift (UAE-Emirates), Diego Ulissi (UAE-Emirates), Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Delio Fernandez Cruz (Delko Marseille Provence) and Mauro Finetto (Delko Marseille Provence) with him.

After tackling the Col de Cucheron and Col de Porte, their lead stretched out to six minutes as they trundled along the lengthy valley road that led to the second trio of climbs, the Côte de Garcin, Col de Sarenne and Alpe d’Huez. The group eventually shattered on the lower slopes of the Sarenne, with Kennaugh, Vanendert, Fernandez, Swift, Ulissi and Herrada forging their way clear.

Behind, Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) attacked from the yellow jersey group over the Garcin and linked up with his teammate Clarke on the Sarenne, opening a lead of a minute over Porte et al. Bardet had a similar tactic in mind, and he ripped clear of the yellow jersey group on the Sarenne itself, bridging across to his teammate Vuillermoz and then eventually reaching Talansky on the plateau that followed the summit of the Sarenne.

Porte’s BMC team had controlled affairs to that point, and though his teammates began to drop away as the climb progressed and the group was whittled down, the Tasmanian always appeared comfortable, responding coolly to Valverde’s acceleration near the top and Aru’s attack on Alpe d’Huez.

Porte’s own acceleration in the finale, meanwhile, showed how difficult it will be to divest him of yellow on Sunday’s short but viciously tough concluding leg to Plateau de Solaison. “We can't be complacent. I expect fireworks tomorrow,” Porte said. “It'll be a short stage. It's not over until it's over, but my team is incredibly strong so I want to finish it off for them.”

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