Criterium du Dauphine: Alaphilippe wins stage 6

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) managed to beat Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) in a close sprint to win stage 6 of the Critérium du Dauphiné to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne after being on the attack for 216km of the 229km stage deep into the Alps.

Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team), who was also in the three-rider break, finished third a few seconds behind after the trio attacked each other on the final climb of the day.

The Frenchman was the local favourite to win but Mühlberger made Alaphilippe work for victory. Mühlberger attacked several times on the late Col de Beaune climb and then lead out the sprint with aggression, with only the photo-finish confirming that Alaphilippe had beaten him by a few inches. De Marchi finished a disappointed 22 seconds back after losing contact over the top of the climb after a chase and attack.

The overall contenders let the trio gain over 13 minutes at one point during the six hours of racing, preferring to save their strength for the big mountain stages of the weekend.

Wout Poels (Team Ineos) led the peloton home at 6:10 after the British team upped the pace on the final climb, shaking out double stage winner Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who finished 15:06 back. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) finished safely in the peloton and so kept the race leader's yellow jersey going into the decisive Alpine weekend.

Alaphilippe was keen to celebrate his tenth victory of the 2019 season and the 36th victory for Deceuninck-QuickStep.

"To win in the Dauphiné in my first race (this season) in France is a really special feeling. I'm really happy after a hard day in the break, with only three guys."

"I know my mate from the breakaway, from Bora. He's really strong and I know he's explosive. I had to be careful but it was a headwind and so didn't want to start my sprint early. In the end I passed him in the last moment, so I'm happy."

Six hours in the saddle

The long ride from Saint-Vulbas on the Plaine de l'Ain to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne included eight categorised climbs and was made harder a by heavy rain at the start and a stiff headwind once the sun emerged to dry the road and the riders.

Alaphilippe, Mühlberger and De Marchi attacked on the first rise of the stage, with the Frenchman keen to be in the move of the day. They soon opened a gap but Team Sunweb led the chase, only to give up after a fast 60 minutes in the saddle, realizing the mountain's jersey on Casper Pedersen's shoulders was lost. Soon after the trio pushed their lead out to 6:00, after covering 44.5km in the first hour, with Mitchelton-Scott obliged to lead the peloton to defend Yates' yellow jersey.

Alaphilippe led Mühlberger and De Marchi over the day's opening categorised climb after 82km with a lead of 9:15 on the bunch. He was chasing points for the climber's competition soon equalled Casper Pedersen's points total and then took the jersey on the category 4 Col de Frêne after 131km.

He swept up more points on the Côte d'Aiton as the peloton trailed behind at a massive 13:50. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Nick Schultz (Mitchelton-Scott) crashed on the descent of Saint-Georges-d'Hurtières but both riders remounted and rejoined the peloton.

Alaphilippe leads De Marchi and Mühlberger through the finish line in Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne for the first time with 16km to race, everyone ready for the end game on the eight-kilometre Col de Beaune climb and its treacherous descent. The peloton also accelerated in anticipation of the climb, with EF Education First upping the pace and dragging the peloton through the finish some 9:20 back.

Alaphilippe asked for a bidon from his team car with 10km to go but his directeur sportif, mindful of the rules, waved a hand of refusal, forcing the Frenchman to race on with empty bottle cages and a thirst. Fortunately it did not affect his thirst for victory when De Marchi and Mühlberger took turns to attack in the final three kilometres of the climb. Alaphilippe chased down one and then other, dancing on the pedals and trying to stay in control.

There was a rare 2019 sighting of Gianni Moscon on the front of the peloton, as Team Ineos set the tempo on the Col de Beaune. The only effect was to distance Van Aert and then Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), who both preferred to save themselves from any extra effort.

De Marchi struggled to respond to all of the change in pace but made a defensive attack when he closed the gap with 500 to the summit. However, Mühlberger was determined not to make it easy for anyone and kicked again. Alaphilippe jumped on his wheel and the break was suddenly down to two.

Even a few mistakes on the technical descent failed to disturb the Frenchman and they rode together to the finish. Alaphilippe was under pressure to win again but managed to force Mühlberger to lead out into the headwind finish. The Austrian accepted the challenge and almost held on, only for Alaphilippe to match his speed.

Neither knew who had won but the photo-finish confirmed it was Alaphilippe and the French crowd let out a partisan cheer.

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