Briton defends himself well on Le Collet d’Allevard
Joaquim Rodriguez ended his string of near-misses with a brilliant solo win atop the final climb of stage six in the Critérium du Dauphiné, Le Collet d’Allevard. He crossed the line, pointing his fingers to the sky, 30 seconds ahead of Robert Gesink and 39 seconds ahead of Jurgen Van den Broeck.
Bradley Wiggins defended himself well, crossing the line 54 seconds behind the stage winner, but more crucially 15 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans. Evans is second in the general classification, 1’26 behind Wiggins.
Rodriguez had extra motivation for today’s race. “This is the stage for which I decided to ride the Dauphiné in the last minute,” he said to French TV after the race. “But what fatigue!” he added with a smile. “It was a very tough stage.” The Spaniard had learned from past mistakes. “In the other stages where I was looking for my chances, I attacked a little too early.” This time he waited until around six kilometers from the finish.
His first move was neutralized, then he went after Alexander Vinokourov and dropped the Kazakh rider. “Today I waited for the final and with five kilometers remaining it was perfect to go solo.” Rodriguez finally came across the line in first, after several second places this season. “I am more than happy with this victory. But the Dauphiné isn’t over yet. Tomorrow I want to fight to get back into the top three in the general classification.”
Away from the battle of the overall, Jérôme Coppel took the lead in the young rider’s classification. “I was not so good on the final climb, it is a bit disappointing that I couldn’t stay with the best,” he said after the race. “This white jersey is a consolation.” He had a lot of trouble in the beginning of the climb. “The rhythm was very fast right away,” he said. He then went his own pace, crisp but without overdoing it. “This allowed me to not lose too much time.” He came home in 14th, 2’48 behind Rodriguez.
Coppel feels better as the week goes on. “Tomorrow I hope to be able to follow the best on La Toussuire, that is my objective. If all goes well I could even improve on my GC ranking.” Coppel is 11th, 4’46 behind Wiggins.
The race started out with the climb of the côte de Châtillon-sur-Cluses after only ten kilometers. Leonardo Duque added more points to his mountains lead. Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) was the first to give it a go in the descent, but was caught back after 20 kilometers.
There were several attacks in the early part of the race, which put some riders under pressure. Frantisek Rabon (HTC), Oscar Pujol (Omega Pharma-Lotto), John Murphy (BMC) and Jan Tratnik (Quick Step) were those who had to abandon early on. No group had formed in the first hour of racing, but the constant attacking led to an average speed of 45.7 km/h.
Going up the second climb of the day, the col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt (km 48), five riders went clear. Duque was no surprise in the move, getting three more points for crossing the top ahead of Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Amets Txurruka and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil). A large move of 16 riders formed, but Sky kept control of the situation. Eventually, only Westra continued his efforts.
The next climb was the col des Aravis (km 58), where Duque had trouble following the pace. Westra was not alone for long, when he was joined by 15 other riders. It was Przemyslaw Niemec (Lampre) first across the col, besting Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Kevin Seeldraeyers (Quick Step).
After some reshuffling in the front group, eight men went clear and had a gap of 2’20 after 93 kilometers. Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Mauro Finetto (Liquigas), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Yury Trofimov (Katusha), Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Martinez and Seeldraeyers.
The group of eight passed the col de Tamié (km 104.5) 3’45 ahead of the Sky-led peloton. Finetto was first over the top, followed by Seeldraeyers and Garate. The third hour was raced at 36.8 km/h, thanks to the hard climbs in the Alps. The bunch came closer, less than three minutes behind at km 130.
The group stayed together over the fifth climb of the day, the col du Grand Cucheron (km 153). Only at the top, Seeldraeyers, Finetto and Martinez sprinted for the points, passing the KOM line in that order. The bunch followed at around two minutes.
Climber David Moncoutié (Cofidis) had a mechanical with 30km to go, with a slow bike change. He was paced back by two teammates. Shortly thereafter a cow entered the peloton and brought a few riders down. Arnold Jeannesson (Française des Jeux) and Mikel Landa Meana (Euskaltel-Euskadi) were the worst off, but both were able to continue.
The peloton’s speed stayed high and after the 20-kilometer to go banner, the advantage of the front runners dropped rapidly. It was only 45 seconds with 15km to go.
The group was caught just after the start of the final 11.2km climb. Under the pressure of Astana and especially Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen, the peloton shattered.
Boasson Hagen’s work was done with a little under seven kilometers to go to the summit. Gesink was the first to attack, but he was too far back in the overall to concern Wiggins. Rodriguez and Van den Broeck quickly jumped and joined Gesink, with Wiggins calmly catching on.
But the next attack came with 5.7km to go by Alexander Vinokourov. He had a clean gap before Rodriguez joined him. Behind, it was Van den Broeck, Wiggins, Evans, Kern, Gesink fighting.
With just over five kilometers to go, Rodriguez dropped Vinokourov. The Spaniard was up by around 40 seconds on the Wiggins group with four kilometers to go. Vinokourov fell back to the yellow jersey group. Gesink and Wiggins were struggling a bit, but not as bad as Evans. The Australian couldn’t follow the pace and dropped back inside the final three kilometers.
Wiggins fought hard to stay in contact, but with 1.5km to go he and Vinokourov had to drop back. Gesink attacked Kern and Van den Broeck with 500m to go, making it second place, behind the unbeatable Rodriguez.