Froome climbs to stage, overall Criterium International victory

Chris Froome’s stunning solo attack on a fog-shrouded Col d’Ospedale saw him leapfrog team-mate and yellow jersey Richie Porte to win the Criterium International in Corsica.

With 5km to go, Froome, who was sooned joined by Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) opened up a gap on the main group of 20 riders to chase the recently escaped Johann Tschopp (IAM).

Glancing over his shoulder to check if Porte had matched his effort, Froome continued to power away and upon catching Tschopp didn’t waste any time in leaving him behind.

The time gap between the Sky man and the rest was only heading one way and into the final flat 1km he’d already sewn up victory.

While Porte didn’t have the legs to respond to Froome’s blistering move, he bided his time before producing his own attack with 2km left, finishing 15 seconds behind Froome for a Sky one-two on both the stage and GC.

With Porte in yellow, Froome’s attack bore echoes of his attack on Bradley Wiggins on the La Toussuire stage at last year's Tour de France but any questions about what had gone on here were extinguished as the two embraced after the finish.

“It wasn’t my intention to attack so early on in the climb but Richie sat off a little bit and gave me a gap and no one chased,” Froome said at the finish.

“So I pushed on a bit knowing that he could stay protected behind other wheels, which allowed him to attack in the final couple of kilometres himself. So we couldn’t have asked for better”

Porte agreed, saying the tactic at the start was if he had good legs Froome would work for him and vice versa.

“Once he attacked a gap opened and no-one closed it and that was it. He disappeared into the sunset, or should that be fog?

Bauke Mollema (Blanco) was the next man back, with Peraud and Tejay van Garderen completing the top five.

Cooler temperatures, a strong northerly wind and a promise of rain were on the mind of the riders as they started the third and final stage.

176km were on the menu, following a clockwise loop of the southern tip of Corsica that came full circle into Porto-Vecchio. From there, the race would head north for a further 17km where the race would be decided by a showdown on the Col de l’Ospedale.

As he is wont to do, five-time winner Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Leopard) had a little dig as early as 13km but was soon reined in.

A real break got away at 20km. Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Seche Environnement) accelerated and was followed by Jeremy Roy (FDJ), Edwig Cammaerts (Cofidis), Paul Poix (Sojasun), Yann Huguet (Argos-Shimano) and Jose Goncalves (Le Pomme Marseille). Laurent Didier soon joined and 45km had built a 4:30 advantage.

They never got any further ahead and with Sky typically controlling things on the front of the peloton, the gap was under a minute after the Cote de Viggianello climb.

The breakaway got company soon after with five more riders making the move, including Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Leopard) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) join

At the summit of Col de Sainte-Lucie-de-Tallano, riders including Schleck were dropped and the break, with a 50 second advantage, was down to just three (Mathias Frank, BMC, Francis Mourey (FDJ) and Voeckler.

Sky upped the pace on the climb of Col de Bacinu with Porte the last in the train. Heading back into Porto-Vecchio the break were still away but with the race heading back out and north up the 14.1km Ospedale, it was never likely to stay away.

That it didn’t, not with Vasil Kiryienka putting an extraordinary effort in on the front for Sky. His face was contorted by pain when he finally eased off but by then the damage had already been done with defending champion Cadel Evans long gone and the leading group feeling the strain.

From there the result rarely looked in doubt. Froome called the weekend a “worthwhile exercise for the team” heading into the key spring stretch and if his rivals didn’t know it already, he’s certainly going to take some beating wherever he races this year.

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