Astana captain Alberto Contador made it two in a row for his Kazakh team in stage six of the Critérium du Dauphiné today, by adding his name to the list of distinguished winners atop the legendary climb of the Alpe d'Huez. The Spaniard began his constant attacking early on the climb with the aim of dethroning RadioShack’s race leader Janez Brajkovic. The Slovenian came into his own on the final major climb of the race and, with his second place and successful yellow jersey defense, wrote off any question marks about his ability to be a leader for the American team in the future. Just behind Liquigas rider Sylwester Szmyd finished off his defiant ride up the mountain in third.
For his efforts, Brajkovic has all but sealed up overall victory in this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné going into tomorrow’s final stage, while Contador’s efforts distanced HTC-Columbia’s Tejay Van Garderen enough to move him into second in the general classification. The young American showed his determination on one of cycling’s most feared climbs to maintain his place on the podium, shepherded safely to the line in a class move by his elder and compatriot Chris Horner (RadioShack).
"I’m really happy," said Brajkovic after the stage finish. "I wasn’t feeling so well on the second to last climb. I was pretty much suffering at the beginning of the last climb but then Alberto attacked, and I told myself I just needed to pace myself.
"I was able to answer all the attacks he did but I have to say I was also a little bit lucky because there was a lot of wind and he took all the wind for me. Wow, I am really happy for this race. I’m going really well and the team is super happy, Lance is super happy, everybody is happy. But we still have one day to go so let’s stay calm and see what tomorrow brings," he concluded.
Climbing right out of the box
The peloton set off with the category three Côte des Fontaines on tap as the first climb of the day, with a heavy dose of climbing in store before the eventual mountain top finish 152 kilometers later. Egoi Martinez attacked the peloton for the King of the Mountain points and was followed by the Caisse d'Epargne pair of Ruben Plaza and Mathieu Perget. Approaching the 20 kilometer mark the Footon-Servetto-Fuji team was driving behind for their polka dot leader Eros Capechhi, with the front group swelling from ten to fourteen riders over the next 20 kilometers to form the break of the day.
Included in the move were Plaza, Dario Cataldo and Branislau Samoilau (Quick Step), Dmitry Fofonov (Astana), Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Stefan Denifl (Cervélo TestTeam), Johan Van Summeren (Garmin-Transitions), David Le Lay (AG2r), Rémy Di Gregorio (Française des Jeux), Julien El Farès (Cofidis), Thomas Rohregger (Milram), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Cyril Gautier (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) and Guillaume Levarlet (Saur Sojasun), with five riders chasing at 20 seconds; Maxime Bouet (AG2r), Amaël Moinard (Cofidis), Oscar Pujol (Cervélo), Danny Pate (Garmin-Transitions) and Laurent Lefèvre (Bbox Bouygues Telecom). The two groups eventually came together to make it nineteen up front, with a 1 minute and 50 second advantage over the RadioShack and Astana led peloton.
The break increased its lead to 2 minutes and 25 seconds over the Col du Grand Cucheron, with Martinez snatching up the mountain points on offer, and French champion Dimitri Champion (Ag2r) able to make the junction to the leaders.
The race gets to the business end
When the front group reached the hors category Col du Glandon they had brought their advantage up to nearly 3 minutes over the peloton, with Caldato driving the pace up the climb causing Pate, Fofonov, Lefèvre and Roelandts to fall off the pace. Behind the Astana team took over the reins at the front with six riders driving riding tempo to keep the leaders in check. Race leader Brajkovic lost a key teammate Sergio Paullinho to a mechanical, while Pujol hit the leaders near the top of the climb with Martinez jumping to again grab the mountain points on offer.
On the ride to the final climb of the day the yellow jersey of Brajkovic (RadioShack) was down to two teammates, Horner and Paulinho; the latter fought back on the descent after being serviced. Denifl, Bouet and Di Gregorio worked to put 15 seconds into their breakaway companions on the downhill, but were reeled back in as the descent wound down. The front was down to thirteen leaders and had less than two minutes advantage on the Astana led group containing the race favorites as they reached the valley leading to the final ascent. Cataldo and Plaza had lost contact on the descent which left Denifl and Pujol (Cervélo TestTeam), El Fares and Moinard (Cofidis), Champion, Bouet and Le Lay (AG2r), Van Summeren (Garmin-Transitions), Di Gregorio (Française des Jeux), Samoilau (Quick Step), Rohregger (Milram), Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Levarlet (Saur Sojasun) up front.
Attacking splinters the race
The Cervélo TestTeam duo slipped off the front with Levarlet in the valley of the Oisans, followed by Di Gregorio, El Farès and Champion to make it six riders in the lead. As they reached the base of the Alpe d’Huez the advantage of the escape was hovering around a minute. Di Gregorio was the first to attack on the final climb and took Denifl and Pujol with him. Behind, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and Horner came unhitched 2 kilometers into the 13.5 kilometer effort. By the time the group of favorites reached 11km to go it was Puljol alone out front, just seconds ahead of a select group led by the Astana team containing Brajkovic, Contador and teammate Jesus Hernandez, Van Garderen, Jurgen Van den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Jérôme Coppel (Saur Sojasun) and Sylwester Szmyd (Liquigas),
With 9 kilometers remaining Van Garderen lost contact with the group of favorites, while ahead Contador put in the first of many attacks to come. Each time the Spaniard went, Brajkovic, who was pushing a noticeably larger gear, would pull him back convincingly eventually leaving the other three in their wake. Behind Van Garderen fought to keep the chasing trio in sight, now 26 seconds behind the leading pair with 7 kilometers left to race.
Szmyd managed to drag himself up to the two leaders and immediately began a valiant series of attacks, but Contador, who was clearly unable to dislodge the race leader, wouldn’t let the Polish rider break free to win the stage. With 2 kilometers remaining it was just two leaders up front, and all too clear that Brajkovic was in control. The RadioShack rider was confident enough to take over the lead in the closing kilometer only to have Contador jump around him for the stage win.
2010 Critérium du Dauphiné stage six results:
1. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 4hr 31min 01sec
2. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) same time
3. Sylverster Szmyd (POL/LIQ) at 17
4. Jerome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 24,
5. Jurgen van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 40
6. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 1min 17sec
7. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 1:18
8. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) s.t.
9. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) s.t.
10. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 1:26
11. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) 1:26
12. Christophe Le Mevel (FRA/FDJ) 1:53
13. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) s.t.
14. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) s.t.
15. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 2:18
General classification after stage six:
1. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 24hr 26min 05sec
2. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 1:41
3. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) 2:41
4. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 3:46
5. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 4:01
6. Jerome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 4:17
7. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 4:23
8. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 5:53
9. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 6:10
10. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 6:33