The Criterium du Dauphine starts with a very interesting stage that starts and finishes in Champery, on the Swiss side of the border. The riders will have to face the climbs of the Cote de Morgins twice and the Col du Corbier before tackling the irregular climb back to Champery. The stage is really short so it is very difficult to predict a winner as the group that gets to the finish line ahead might be big or small depending on the pace. However, it would be a long shot for the sprinters, even for those that can handle the mountains.
The Cote de Morgins was climbed right after the start. It is a very tough climb, make hard by the fact that Cannondale and Ag2r were not willing to let a big group go. Only 4 riders were at the front of the race at the top of the climb. John Atapuma (Sky) was the first at the top, followed by Wilco Kelderman (Giant), Sergio Henao (Katusha) and Jan Bakelants (Discovery). They only had 40 seconds on the peloton so this break was not consolidated at all. It was probable that others would try to join in the descent.
The group of 4 consolidated at the front of the race but the stage was not very long and their gap was controlled at all times. The most important climb of the stage was the Col du Corbier, which top was 44 kilometers from the finish line. Movistar took the lead of the bunch on the second part of the climb with Pablo Lastras and Javi Moreno cutting the gap to the front group to 2' 45''. The gap does not look too promising for them to make it to the end as others will surely try to get the stage.
Emanuele Sella and Domenico Pozzovivo attacked before the intermediate sprint in La Chapelle-d'Abondance but their gap to the bunch at that point was only 25 seconds. Ag2r and Movistar were increasing the pace before the climb to the Pas de Morgins. In the group of the favorites only Tony Gallopin sprinted for the points, a classification that is disregarded by most in the Dauphine. Only around 70 riders were surviving in the group of the favorites. Many had decided to take it easier from the Col du Corbier.
Halfway through the climb to the Pas de Morgins Sergio Henao lost track with his break companions, which left only 3 riders at the front group. They were surprisingly keeping a good gap of 1' 40'' over Emanuele Sella and Domenico Pozzovivo and 2' 20'' over the group of favorites. The climb is not particularly hard on the French side and there is a long descent that will not allow the peloton to chase harder. Among the riders that lost contact with the main group were Eros Capecchi and Johann Tschopp while Lars Peter Nordhaug was leading the bunch.
Andreas Kloden tried to break from the main bunch close to the top of the Pas de Morgins but he did not manage to do it. The group is continuously losing riders and no more than 50 riders were there at the top, 20 kilometers from the finish line. Meanwhile, Wilco Kelderman increased the pace in the break and started the descent alone at the front. Emanuele Sella also gained a few meters on Domenico Pozzovivo but the gaps started to decrease quite a lot. Sella will not be as dangerous in this race as he was in the Tirreno - Adriatico as the long time trial will hurt his chances in the GC a lot.
The bunch reached the bottom of the descent without any issues but Andy Schleck attacked straight away at the bottom, followed by Domenico Pozzovivo and Hubert Dupont, and with 6 kilometers to go the group was about to catch Wilco Kelderman, finishing his hopes of getting the stage win at Champery. The final climb to the ski resort was very irregular so the attacks were difficult to sustain. Tom Danielson tried to react but Jurgen van den Broeck was bringing the whole group behind.
Jurgen van den Broeck was very valuable for Laurens Ten Dam, who did not look like attacking today but would not lose any time if the Belgian kept controlling the pace. All of the riders at the front were reeled back in after an attack by Juanjo Cobo and Jelle Vanendert that Cannondale controlled. The group was made of around 50 riders with 3 kilometers to go so the stage would likely finish in a reduced group sprint. It was difficult to name a favorite with so many riders in the group and no one very quick in the finishes.
Kanstantsin Siutsou attacked a bit before the last kilometer mark and was leading the race in the last 700 meters. Rein Taaramae had followed his attack and was trailing, while Jurgen van den Broeck, Samuel Sanchez and Tiago Machado followed. It looked like the favorites for the overall win would not be involved in the fight for the stage even though there were 5 bonus seconds on offer for the winner at the finish line.
Rein Taaramae wins in Champery! The Estonian soon overtook Kanstantsin Siutsou, who faded rather soon and pushed on to get his first win of the season. Taaramae had already been 9th in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco this season. Tiago Machado and Ben Hermans followed across the line, while Jerome Coppel and Jean-Christophe Peraud completed the top 5. It is always good to see riders other than the climbers and the sprinters taking stage wins and these stages with a few hills and mountains but not a mountain-top finish are good for that.
We do not know yet who will take the overall win in the Criterium du Dauphine but the range of riders that might take the win has been decreased considerably. Only 46 riders made it home with the same time as the leader and many have lost more than 10 minutes. This will surely encourage riders to join early breaks and make the race more unpredictable, especially if the team of the leader is not willing to control the pace.
The second stage of the Criterium du Dauphine is classified as flat but to be honest it is hard to see a sprinter taking the stage win in Oyonnax. There are as many as 5 climbs in the second part of the race, including the Col du Sentier with 10 kilometers to go. The descent practically finishes in the streets of Oyonnax so any rider that goes through the climb with a gap has a good chance of taking the win. It will be much more interesting than the usual flat stage.
The break was small but the quality of the riders are very good. The 4 riders in the group were David Millar (HTC), Johann Tschopp (BMC), Simon Gerrans (Trek) and Leopold Konig (IAM). They got to the first climb of the day, the Cote de Mornex, with a gap of 6' 45'' with 115 kilometers remaining. Konig was the first at the KoM sprint. The bad news on the first part of the stage were that Jurgen van den Broeck crashed in the first few kilometers of the stage and had to retire from the race. This is a big hit for Cannondale as Van den Broeck was the best helper for Laurens Ten Dam in the mountains.
The roads today were very treacherous and there were other crashes by important riders like Cadel Evans and Tom Boonen. Both of them recovered before the Cote de Lancrans, 53 kilometers from the finish line. Cannondale was chasing with Tom Slagter and Jerome Baugnies even though the stage was clearly too har for Theo Bos. They might try to take the win with other rider. Vacansoleil were also chasing and the gap had decreased to 3' 35'' at the top of the climb.
The Cote de Communal was the hardest climb of the day. The 2nd category climb, 38 kilometers from the finish in Oyonnax, should be too hard for some of the sprinters. Andre Greipel was unlucky enough to puncture right before the start of the climb. Johann Tschopp was first at the KoM sprint and the gap had barely reduced to 3 minutes. Tom Slagter and Jakob Fuglsang were leading the chase but they could not increase the pace too much if they did not want to leave their sprinters behind.
Andre Greipel must have recovered from the earlier puncture as Tony Martin took the lead of the group at the penultimate climb of the day, the Cote de Bugnon. The second part of the stage was a continuous up and down the hills and that was weighing in many riders that were dropping out of the back of the peloton. The gap to the break had decreased to 1' 50'' but that might be enough for those in the early break to think about taking the stage. Simon Gerrans decided to attack in the break and, although David Millar tried to follow he did not seem to have the legs.
Simon Gerrans was caught but attacked again halfway through the climb to the Col du Sentier. This time his breakaway companions could not follow and were in fact caught by the group of the favorites. However, the Australian had 55 seconds with 10 kilometers to go, most of them of steep descent. Rafal Majka, Tom Slagter and Andy Schleck led the group at the top of the climb but most of the sprinters had dropped and there was uncertainty around whether to chase or not. Meanwhile, the news arrived that we had another casualty. Joaquim Rodriguez crashed in the wet roads and said goodbye to the race.
Emanuele Sella took advantage of the doubts on the peloton and decided to launch himself to chase Simon Gerrans. However, with 5 kilometers to go the Italian was still 50 seconds behind Gerrans, who looked set to take the stage win. The group of the favorites was 1' 10'' behind, which meant that Sella could even get the leader's jersey if he kept a gap over the chasers. A few sprinters joined the main group back in the descent but the stage was over for them. Among those left behind were Tom Boonen, Theo Bos and Nacer Bouhanni.
Simon Gerrans entered the streets of Oyonnax as the rain poured, making the final descent very dangerous and only fit for riders that wanted to take risks. Emanuele Sella has been really active in these first stages of the Dauhpine and he was very much willing to take some time on the rest of the favorites for the final win. He looked set to take over the leader's jersey already inside the last 2 kilometers. Meanwhile, Jelle Vanendert led the main bunch with Andre Greipel on his wheel. The German had made a big effort to get back at the front of the group.
Simon Gerrans wins in Oyonnax! The Australian was the strongest rider in the early break and took the stage win in the second stage deservedly. He held off the charge by the main bunch and had to risk it in a wet descent towards the finish. This is his first win of the season. The second place in the stage went to Emanuele Sella, 36 seconds behind Gerrans. The Italian advantaged the group of the leader in 22 seconds and will inherit the leader's jersey from him. Sella has started the race in good shape.
The sprint in the bunch was easily won by Tony Gallopin, another BMC rider, the only sprinter that was strong enough to sprint after all the climbs. The top 5 was completed by Jelle Vanendert and Hubert Dupont. The stage tomorrow will also be difficult to predict and the sprinters might have their only chance of a stage win in the Dauphine. All in all, the start of the race has been very attractive with lots of fight and attacking riders.
On Tuesday we have another stage that is difficult to predict. The sprinters will need to force their hand if they want to have a chance for a win in the Dauphine but the top of the climb to the Col de Sauvages is only 9 kilometers from the finish line in Tarare. The climb itself is quite gentle so many of the sprinters should be able to handle it but if there is a determined attack from one of the good hills riders it might be tricky to bring them back.
It was a difficult start to the stage as the fight to get in the break lasted for at least 30 kilometers. In the end a group of 4 riders made it: Mauro Finetto (Katusha), Maarten Tjallingii (Quickstep), Borut Bozic (Lampre) and Julien Simon (Ag2r). With a bit less than 100 kilometers to go their gap reached 5' 45'' over the main bunch. The first part of the stage did not have any difficulties due to the terrain and once the break was formed the riders in the bunch were having a bit of time to relax.
The first difficulty of the day was the climb to the Col des Echarmeaux, 46 kilometers from the finish line. Even though it was marked as a long climb the tough part was only 8 to 5 kilometers from the KoM sprint. The bunch was reducing the gap to the break bit by bit and was 3' 15'' at the top. The pace was not too high as no one seemed to suffer too much on the climb. Tom Slagter, Jakob Fuglsang and Alexandr Kolobnev were some of the riders working as BMC was letting other do the job of bringing the break back.
Emanuele Sella was keen on taking a few points in the intermediate sprint in Cublize and he beat Tiago Machado and Rui Costa in the sprint. It was quite clear that the riders fighting for the points' competition would not be the sprinters. The peloton was chasing hard on the descent towards Amplepuis, where they would turn towards the last climb of the day. The break still had 2 minutes to play with and the riders in the bunch could not let them get any further.
Julien Simon led the break through the KoM sprint at the top of the Col de Sauvages. The break had maintained a gap of 40'' at the climb and they had a real chance of taking the stage win. With 9 kilometers to go the bunch would need to descend like crazy to catch them back. Cannondale was the team increasing the pace the most with Tom Slagter and even Laurens Ten Dam but their sprinter Theo Bos has lots of troubles in the hills and they had to lift the pace a bit. The stage win was still in the air and very hard to predict.
Xavi Tondo tried to break from the peloton in the descent towards Tarare but a lot of riders tried to follow and in the end they brought the whole bunch behind. Vacansoleil took the lead with Lieuwe Westra in the second part of the descent, where they could actually chase a bit. However, with 3 kilometers to go the gap was still 25 seconds. It was still not settled either way. Tom Boonen, Chris Sutton and Andre Greipel were the only sprinters to come up to the front of the pack so far which suggests that not every sprinter will be fit for the final sprint.
The break was finally reeled back in less than 2 kilometers from the finish line. It was such a shame for the 4 riders at the front as they battled very hard to get to the finish. As soon as they were caught the final sprint started and a few other sprinters managed to get to the front of the pack. Chris Sutton was leading Ben Sift out but the British did not look at his best and was having trouble getting past the Australian. With 700 meters to go Bernhard Eisel was getting around the Vacansoleil duo on the left. Other contenders for the win were Yauheni Hutarovich, who had Eisel's wheel and a surprising Tiago Machado.
Yauheni Hutarovich wins in Tarare! The Belarusian denied Ben Swift in a very close finish between the two riders. It is the first win of the season for Hutarovich, who only arrived in HTC this year and is not deemed to be one of the best sprinters in the field. However, he was very clever to take the win by a good positioning. Swift was second ahead of Peter Sagan, who at some stage looked like he would be able to get past Hutarovich. Sagan is one of the sprinters that goes through the hills better but had to settle for 3rd today.
The top 5 was completed with Bernhard Eisel and Andre Greipel. It is clear that Greipel does not enjoy the hills, given that he was in paper the quickest sprinter in the race by far. Another rider that should have done well but disappointed was Tony Gallopin. The hilly stages come to an end in the Dauphine for now and tomorrow there will be a very interesting time trial that should start to put an order to the general classification. It is likely that the differences will be sensible in the stage.
The featured rider section rider last time around was Tyler Farrar, while this time we will focus on a rather similar type of rider: Lloyd Mondory. Both riders are sprinters that do well in cobbled races although Farrar is more of a pure sprinter compared to the much more versatile Mondory. However, it has taken the French much longer to realize where the focus of his career should be. He made a big impact when the World Tour was created in 2009 by being 2nd in the World Tour rankings that year only behind Hubert Dupont. He got podiums both in the Paris - Nice and the Tour de Suisse, along with 2 stages in the Tour de France.
However, Mondory was also the clearer example of the demise of the Liquigas teams that reached rock bottom in 2012. It was at that point that the Italian team and the rider decided that it was best for them to part ways and try to rebuild their respective futures. After a brief spell in Omega Pharma - Quickstep it was Euskaltel that offered Mondory the chance to be an important rider again. His first year in the Spaniard teams started to offer hints of the return of the Mondory. He got a crucial stage win in the Tirreno - Adriatico after a long time without rising his hands.
However, it was 2015 that marked a before and after in the recent career of Lloyd Mondory. The Euskaltel was packed with sprinters but he knew how to find his sweet spot to grab the best win of his career, the Gent - Wevelgem, and come 2nd in the World Championships in Richmond. However, that was also the year when Alexander Kristoff emerged as a World Class sprinter and Euskaltel had the Norwegian was under a longer term contract. Therefore, if he wanted to race for himself Lloyd Mondory had to leave. He chose to go back to his former team, Etixx - Quickstep, where he would be given a leading time this time.
2016 has been outstanding so far for Mondory. He started the season by taking the overall classification, along with 1 stage win, in the Tour Down Under. Furthermore, in the classics season he took the win in the E3 Harelbeke and was in the podium both in Paris - Roubaix and Ronde van Vlaanderen. His 2 stage wins in the Giro are also a good complement to a performance that currently has him close to the top of the UCI World Tour rankings. Given how good his performances have been in the classics season it would not be unthinkable to see Mondory getting a monument or a World Championship sooner rather than later. Let's hope he does not disappoint.
Stage 4: Villars-les-Dombes - Parc des Oiseaux (ITT)
The fourth stage marks the start of the battle for the GC in the 2016 Criterium du Dauphine. The 33 kilometers time trial is basically circular as it starts in Vllars-les-Dombes and finishes in the Parc des Oiseaux, only a couple of kilometers south from the starting town. The route is completely flat, which always tends to increase the gaps in the time trials and riders like Tejay van Garderen, who took the win here a couple of years ago, should be grateful of a stage with these characteristics.
David Millar (HTC) was the only one among the favorites that had lost some time in the previous days and started halfway through the field. Lieuwe Westra had set the early pace and was the time to beat. However, the Dutch's time was no match for Millar, who put a massive 1' 03'' on him and settled to be at the top of the sheet for a long time if not to actually take the stage win. Millar has dominated the time trials so far in the year and already has 3 stage wins on his belt, 1 in the Tirreno - Adriatico and 2 in the Tour de Romandie.
HTC has a few good riders against the clock and the next of the favorites to start was Levi Leipheimer. The American could well get a result out of the Dauphine if he is in shape but he has proven to be quite inconsistent in the past when the roads turn uphill. However, in the time trial he was as good as usually and got the provisional 3rd position, albeit 56 seconds slower than his teammate. This puts into perspective the time set by Millar.
All of the favorites for the stage except for David Millar had not lost much time and were within 25 seconds of the leader. Marco Pinotti (Quickstep) was one of the top contenders given that he took the win in the Giro time trial finishing in Barolo. However, it was not such a good day for him as he crossed the line exactly 1 minute behind David Millar to grab the 4th provisional spot in the day's classification. The Italian needed to put some time on the other climbers to have a shot at the podium but that is going to be difficult now.
The next interesting rider to start was the Dutch from Ag2r, Robert Gesink. He has not had such a good year so far and is in need of good results to compensate for this. He made a step forward to doing it today as he overtook Marco Pinotti for the 4th provisional time, 59 seconds behind Millar. Considering that Gesink is one of the top climbers and that he was expecting to lose some time today this will come as a nice result for him. We should expect him on the attack from tomorrow.
One of the man that had all the attention on himself is the current winner of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) is also among the favorites to take the win in the Criterium du Dauphine but he needed not to lose too much time in the time trial. He managed to do so but was behind other riders that can do well in the mountains. In the end he took the 7th provisional position, 1' 12'' behind David Millar. The Giro must be already taking a toll on the legs of the Dutch, who might have trouble keeping his shape to the end of the race.
Close behind Ten Dam was Cadel Evans (Movistar). He should be one of the riders that looked hopefully to the time trial but he did not have his best day. Instead of gaining time on riders like Robert Gesink or Laurens Ten Dam he lost a few seconds, finishing 1' 13'' behind Millar. This will come down as very bad news for the Movistar camp given that Evans will most likely finish the day outside the top 10 and the riders that he will have to overtake in the mountains are all decent climbers.
Tejay van Garderen (Trek) already knew what taking the win in exactly this time trial is. He took the win 2 years ago in exactly this route. He was in top shape then as he went on to win the Criterium du Dauphine and the Tour de France. Today was not that good but he still put a good chunk of time over his rivals for the podium finish. He took the 2nd provisional time, 35 seconds behind David Millar. That is more than 30 seconds on a rider like Laurens Ten Dam, which could well be too much considering the mountain stages if Tejay has good legs.
Cameron Meyer (Trek) had to get the most out of this time trial for two reasons: a) He could take the leader's jersey of the race and b) He had the outside chance of a good final GC position if he managed the gap with other riders in the subsequent stages. He managed not only that but the World Champion took the best time so far in the finish line by 2 seconds. It would be unlikely for anyone to beat Meyer among those remaining so it started to look like he would get his first win of the season.
The 2nd in the GC before the stage and the best time trialist among those that had taken bonus seconds was Rein Taaramae (Katusha), the winner of stage 1. The Estonian was expected to drop down the order quite a bit but the surprising outcome of the stage was that he took the 11th provisional time only 1' 11'' behind Meyer. That was an outstanding result for Taaramae, which would put him comfortably inside the top 10 so far. It would not be unthinkable for him to target a top 10 finish in the GC.
Emanuele Sella (BMC) was in yellow before the stage but he really in not renowned by his time trial abilities and today was definitely not his day. He clocked the 134th time, losing 3' 44'' against Cameron Meyer. To put things into perspective he dropped to the 36th position in the GC and even his teammate Kanstantsin Siutsou is more than 1 minute ahead of him. His hopes for a top 10 finish in the GC are as good as dead.
At the end of the day it was Cameron Meyer who took the win but two French riders are also worth mentioning: Jean-Christophe Peraud and Jerome Coppel. They have moved respectively to the 2nd and 4th position in the GC, which puts both in the chase for the podium, especially Peraud. It would not be unthinkable for the French to take over the lead that Meyer holds in one of the upcoming stages if he keeps the legs in the mountains that he had in the Giro.
The pictured changed completely for the fifth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine. The hilly stages are giving way to the first mountain-top finish of the race, at Valmorel. The final climb is quite long at 13 kilometers but its gradients are not that steep and it will be tricky for the riders to open gaps in the climb before the last few kilometers. Given that there are practically no difficulties before the last climb and that the stage is very short this surely gives hopes to Cameron Meyer of retaining the yellow jersey.
The start of the stage was very quick, given that many riders wanted to join the break of the day. However, Trek did not want too many riders at the front and some of the attackers were still close in the GC. In the end a group of 9 was formed, including Johann Tschopp (BMC), Danilo di Luca (Euskaltel), Stefano Garzelli (Movistar), Roman Kreuziger (LottoNL) and Alejandro Valverde (Cofidis). They got to the Col du Frene, a very gentle and short climb from that side, with a gap of 5 minutes on the bunch. Johann Tschopp was willing to join the fight for the mountain's jersey and was 1st at the top of the climb.
The stage was rather quiet for the main bunch, although IAM started to collaborate with Trek to bring the break a bit closer. At the sprint in La Bathie (31 kilometers from the finish line) it was down to 4 minutes. Tony Gallopin took the only point remaining after the break went through but with the points classification so tight any point could be crucial. The nerves started to appear as they got closer to the bottom of Valmorel and BMC also started to appear at the front of the pack.
The break started the final climb with a good gap of 3' 20'' over the peloton. However, it was unclear if it would be enough. Roman Kreuziger did not want to wait any longer and attacked as soon as the road started to go up. With 12 kilometers to go he had a small gap on Andrea Guardini and Stefano Garzelli but the others in the break were also close behind. In principle, Stefano Garzelli should be the strongest rider in the front group and the favorite if they survive ahead.
Some of the favorites were also keen to start the fireworks as soon as possible and Hubert Dupont attacked at the 11 kilometers mark. He was followed by Robert Gesink and Juanjo Cobo, although the Spaniard never made it to join the two. Dupont had quite a bit of time to recover from yesterday's time trial and could use any piece of uphill road to attack. The gap was minimal with the bunch, where Tanel Kangert was leading even though he had his teammate Cobo ahead. At the 9 kilometers mark, the gap between Dupont and the group of the leader was 30 seconds.
Roman Kreuziger was still leading the race alone with 6 kilometers to go to the top of Valmorel. However, his gap was still very small, around 20 seconds over the rest of the early break. It was led by Mauro Santambrogio and surprisingly the group was rather compact. Behind them, Hubert Dupont and Robert Gesink were cutting the gap fast and they were 1' 10'' behind Kreuziger. Juanjo Cobo was still in an intermediate position and the group of favorites was 1' 45'' behind. Levi Leipheimer had increased the gap a bit on that group but Cameron Meyer was still holding on comfortably close to the front.
Even though Cameron Meyer was the leader of the race, his teammate Tejay van Garderen decided to attack with 4 kilometers to go. He was quickly followed by Laurens Ten Dam, Levi Leipheimer and Jerome Coppel but the attack completely broke the group of the leader. Van Garderen's attack also served for them to start catching riders from the early break and Hubert Dupont and Robert Gesink were only a handful of seconds ahead. Among those suffering at the group of favorites were Emanuele Sella, Domenico Pozzovivo and Pieter Weening.
Laurens Ten Dam took advantage of Tejay van Garderen's attack to force the pace at the front of the race and only 4 other riders stayed with the Dutch at the 2 kilometers mark: Jean-Christophe Peraud, Roman Kreuziger, Robert Gesink and Hubert Dupont. Their gap was minimal over another group of 10 riders but Cameron Meyer had already been broken down and was losing 40 seconds. Along with the leader other important riders in that group were Jelle Vanendert, and the Schleck brothers.
Laurens Ten Dam launched the final sprint inside the last kilometer when only 3 riders stayed with him. Robert Gesink was the most threatening for the stage win but Hubert Dupont and Jean-Christophe Peraud were also right behind. It is remarkable how Peraud is performing in this Criterium du Dauphine as he was in the way to getting the leader's jersey today. Meanwhile, the chasers had already dropped 20 seconds behind led by Cadel Evans. Only a handful of them were with the Australian though.
Laurens Ten Dam wins in Valmorel! It is amazing how Ten Dam is riding after taking the Giro d'Italia a couple of weeks ago. He has clearly extended his peak of form into the Dauphine successfully. Jean-Christophe Peraud was equally strong and grabbed the 2nd place and the leader's jersey, while Robert Gesink was 3rd ahead of Hubert Dupont. The chasing group crossed the line 23 seconds behind led by Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen, while Cameron Meyer lost a bit more than 1 minute but will stay close to the leader.
Jean-Christophe Peraud will enjoy a comfortable lead of 34 seconds over Tejay van Garderen and Robert Gesink. Meanwhile, even though Laurens Ten Dam grabbed the bonus seconds he will still be 6th in the GC, 43 seconds behind. The stages remaining will allow for gaps to be open between riders but we do not expect those to be too big. In the meantime, tomorrow's stage finishing in Grenoble is very difficult to predict and it could well go to a break.
The sixth stage in the Criterium du Dauphine is one of the most difficult to predict beforehand. The stage is classified as hilly but the actual climbs stop with around 50 kilometers to go and are followed by a difficult terrain before the descent to Grenoble. The Col du Barioz is the most important climb of the day and, halfway through the stage, could provide a key place for the racing to start. However, it is difficult to predict whether the favorites will be involved or the win will go to the early break.
There were plenty of kilometers of attacks and chasing at the start of the stage as most of the teams tried to place a rider in the break. However, Discovery and, to a lesser extent, Lampre were not willing to let a big group go. In the end as many as 11 riders formed the break at the first categorized climb of the day, the Cote d'Arvillard. Julien Simon (FDJ) was 1st at the top and other riders in the group were Bernhard Eisel (LottoNL), Tom Slagter (Cannondale), Luca Paolini (Astana), Samuel Sanchez (Movistar) and Jakob Fuglsang (Vacansoleil). The break was still not completely consolidated because the gap was still only 1' 30''.
The Col du Barioz was a very demanding climb and the very fast pace in the early part of the stage meant that it was much more damaging than expected. On the peloton Euskaltel and IAM started to chase mainly with Danilo di Luca and Leopold Konig doing the work, which caused many riders to drop from the back, including Tony Gallopin, who was among the outsiders for the stage win. Meanwhile, the break broke into two pieces. 6 riders stayed in the front group, including the virtual leader of the race, Samuel Sanchez. The peloton couldn't give the break much time as the 5 minutes gap were larger than the deficit Sanchez had in the GC.
The Col des Ayes was the last categorized climb of the day, 53 kilometers from the finish line. It was a very short climb but with steep gradients. The front group was formed by Samuel Sanchez, Jakob Fuglsang, Luka Mezgec, Julien Simon, Luca Paolini and Tom Slagter. Simon took enough points to grab the lead in the KoM classification at the end of today. 2 minutes behind was the lonely chaser: Sergio Henao, while the gap the the group of the leader was 4' 10''. Warren Barguil and Gorka Izagirre had taken over the pace setting of the 55 men strong group.
The terrain after the Col des Ayes and the descent towards Grenoble was quite difficult to manage for the peloton with the winding roads and the up and down small hills. That was the point where Jerome Coppel decided to play cyclists and attack with more than 30 kilometers to go. It was a bold move but the number of domestiques in the group was not big. He was quickly followed by Jelle Vanendert, Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans and Emanuele Sella. At the last uphill section of the day, with 28 kilometers to go they were 1' 30'' behind the break. Hubert Dupont and Laurens Ten Dam were chasing 2' 05'' behind, while the main bunch was losing 2' 20''.
Jerome Coppel's group eventually caught up with the early break before the descent and several riders attacked straight away. Just before the descent, with 18 kilometers remaining, a group of 5 was ahead: Cadel Evans, Jerome Coppel, Jelle Vanendert, Jakob Fuglsang and Luka Mezgec. However, 10 chasers were barely 15 seconds behind, including Laurens Ten Dam, Hubert Dupont and Robert Gesink. The group of the leader was 50 seconds late and Jean-Christophe Peraud might have been cursing burning his teammates early in the stage.
Jean-Christophe Peraud was in trouble at the entrance to Grenoble as with 3 kilometers to go his group had not caught up to the leaders and the 30 seconds gap was very close to the 34 seconds he had in the GC on Robert Gesink. The French is in the hands of other teams chasing, given that Tejay van Garderen was also in the back group. There were 15 riders in the front group that would fight for the stage. Among those the fastest in a final sprint should be Luka Mezgec, Luca Paolini or Jelle Vanendert. Nevertheless, the hard stage might mean that another rider manages to surprise.
The Cannondale leader, Laurens Ten Dam, was the first to start the final sprint but he soon faded a bit. Jelle Vanendert was leading the way with 700 meters to go ahead of Frank Schleck and Luca Paolini. Jerome Coppel was also progressing towards the front of the group. Nevertheless, the final sprint was very chaotic and even riders a bit further back could make it to the front in the final part of the sprint. Meanwhile, the back group was cutting back the gap a little bit to the point where Jean-Christophe Peraud should save his jersey.
Frank Schleck wins in Grenoble! It has been a while since Frank Schleck last won. It was 2013 when the Quickstep rider took the overall win at the Tour de Suisse. Today he was the rider that best conserved his energy and in the final sprint he actually had a good margin on the 2nd when he crossed the finish line. Given that his chances were ruined by the time trial he still is going to get a good bounty from the Dauphine. The second place in the stage went to Luca Paolini, who hoped to grab the win after keeping a low profile in the last kilometers.
The third place was for Jelle Vanendert, while Luka Mezgec and Cameron Meyer completed the top 5. However, we did not have relevant changes in the GC as the chasing group cut the gap enough in the streets of Grenoble for a gap not to be awarded to the 15 riders at the front. Therefore, the GC will remain unchanged ahead of the two last mountain stages finishing in Superdevoluy and Risoul. Jean-Christophe Peraud looked much more vulnerable in the tactical race today than in the mountain-top finish and his rivals lost a good chance of cutting back his lead.
The penultimate stage is probably the most important in this Dauphine. Even though the route is rather strange in the sense that the climbs to Alpe d'Huez, the Col de Sarenne and the Col d'Ornon are very early in the day, the cumulated efforts should be enough to generate gaps in the late climbs to the Col du Noyer and the finish in Superdevoluy. If any of the favorites want to put a serious amount of time on the others they will have to attack in Noyer, given that the last climb is only 4 kilometers long.
The first climb in the stage was a myth in cycling, the Alpe d'Huez. The climb that has been the final stage for the Tour de France in many occasions was far away fron the finish line today, 136 kilometers. Discovery could not care less about who joined the early break and a group of 17 riders formed a huge group which included Ben Hermans (Katusha), David Millar (HTC), Andre Greipel (Lotto), Simon Spilak (Tinkoff), Giovanni Visconti (Quickstep), Johann Tschopp (BMC), Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Roman Kreuziger (LottoNL) and Oscar Freire (Lampre). They soon built a gap of 7' 15'' as the peloton controlled by Discovery and Trek was not in a hurry up the climb.
The Alpe d'Huez did not have any descent and instead the riders had to tackle the Col de Sarenne right after. The climb of the Sarenne from this side is not too hard but the weather at the top was absolutely awful. Ag2r was the only team in the bunch that thought that the difference to the early break was getting out of hand and they put Jonathan Castroviejo to chase. Nevertheless, the gap at the top was 10 minutes, so the stage was beginning to look good for the break. However, Simon Spilak was only 2' 40'' behind in the GC and a few teams will likely be ready to defend their GC positions.
The Col de Sarenne was followed by the Col d'Ornon. Johann Tschopp narrowly beat David Millar at the top of the climb for the KoM points and the Swiss was the leader of the classification at that stage after collecting lots of points today. However, not everything was nice for the break as Ag2r had put their team at full speed to bring down the gap and it was down to around 5 minutes at the top of the Ornon, with 87 kilometers to go. The French might be burning their team too early. There were also a couple of crashes due to the slippery roads, including David Millar and Beñat Intxausti.
The chase in the mostly flat section that followed the Col d'Ornon was frantic and the main bunch was greatly reduced in size at the bottom of the Col du Noyer. Additionally, we lost Juanjo Cobo in the process due to a crash that forced him to retire from the race. Once the riders got to Noyer Robert Gesink attacked straight away. At the 20 kilometers banner he was only 1' 15'' behind the early break and gaining time on them rapidly. Cadel Evans was the only rider to react to the attack and in the group of the leader it was Jean-Christophe Peraud that had to chase on his own.
The leader was not finding anyone to collaborate with him in chasing Robert Gesink as the Dutch was 3rd in the general classification before the stage. The rain and the hard stage were taking a toll on many riders and Jean-Christophe Peraud's group was losing riders really fast. Once the break was caught it was only Gesink and Cadel Evans ahead. The Dutch had 35 seconds on the Australian with 15 kilometers remaining, while the group of the leader was losing 1' 25''.
The most remarkable of the casualties in the climb to the Col du Noyer was Tejay van Garderen. The American was 2nd in the GC before the stage but it was not his day. As Robert Gesink crossed the top of the climb Tejay was already losing 6 minutes and any hopes of getting a good result out of the Dauphine. At the last part of the climb Jean-Christophe Peraud left the group of the favorites behind and caught Cadel Evans. They were 1' 10'' behind Gesink. A further group of 5 riders including Laurens Ten Dam and Jerome Coppel was trailing 1' 35'' behind. The leader's jersey was very much in danger.
Cadel Evans was caught by the chasing group in the descent of the Col du Noyer and the gaps behind them were growing exponentially. Among those losing good chunks of time were Andy Schleck 4 minutes behind Robert Gesink, Domenico Pozzovivo 7 minutes behind and Tejay van Garderen losing 9 minutes. Many riders were affected by the steady rain that fell on the riders for the whole day but the leader seemed determined not to let Gesink run away with the jersey and would battle for it in the last 4 kilometers of climbing to Superdevoluy.
The battle for the lead was impressive. It was a one to one race between Robert Gesink and Jean-Christophe Peraud. The French could see the Dutch ahead in some of the straights in the climb but even though he cut back the gap it was still 25 seconds with 2 kilometers to go. Gesink was starting to pay the efforts of the climb to Noyer and the chasing group had also cut their loss to 1' 05''. The next group: Tiago Machado, Xavi Tondo and Pieter Weening were still losing 2' 55''.
Robert Gesink needed 32 seconds on Jean-Christophe Peraud at the finish line to take over the leader's jersey and within the last kilometer it was 30 seconds between the two. Gesink was gaining slightly in the final parts of the climb. Meanwhile, Jerome Coppel had attacked from the chasing group and was losing only 50 seconds with the head of the race while Laurens Ten Dam group still was 1' 05'' behind. This stage was meant to be hard on the riders but the gaps generated were way bigger than expected.
Robert Gesink wins in Superdevoluy! It was an amazing stage by the Ag2r rider. His team first set it up perfectly for him increasing the pace for almost 100 kilometers. He afterwards finished the job by attacking 22 kilometers from the finish line at the bottom of the Col du Noyer. No one could follow and he got the first win of the season for him. Jean-Christophe Peraud crossed the finish line 27 seconds behind, which allows him to keep the yellow jersey with a margin of only 5 seconds ahead of the last stage of the race.
Jerome Coppel was 3rd, 49 seconds behind Gesink. This also puts him 3rd in the GC which is an outstanding performance for the French. I am sure that IAM will be very happy with this performance in the Dauphine. A bit behind was the chasing group led by Marco Pinotti and Laurens Ten Dam. They lost 1' 05'' at the finish line. The gaps behind them were so big that the 10th rider in the GC, Tiago Machado, is almost 5 minutes behind. Tomorrow's stage could not be more interesting as the finish in Risoul could be more difficult than expected due to the hard stage today.
Another mountain stage will put an end to the 2016 Criterium du Dauphine. The riders will have an easier start of the day today and the weather will apparently be gentler than yesterday but the final kilometers will feature the climbs to the Col de Vars and Risoul. Obviously, the talk of the day will be the small margin between Jean-Christophe Peraud and Robert Gesink in the general classification. The 5 seconds could even be recovered by the Dutch with the bonus seconds at the finish line.
The break of the day was also quite big today. 11 riders managed to get in the group, including Damiano Cunego (Trek), Tom Slagter (Cannondale), Simon Spilak (Tinkoff), Giovanni Visconti (Quickstep), Sylvain Chavanel (Giant) and Luka Mezgec (HTC). The first categorized climb of the day was the Cote de la Breole and they had already managed to open a gap of 6 minutes at the top. However, their hopes of getting to the end were hampered by Simon Spilak, who was 14th in the GC before the stage and dangerous to many riders in the top 10.
Some teams were not keen on Simon Spilak gaining a lot of time and started to chase in the flat part of the stage preceding the Col de Vars. At the intermediate sprint in Jausiers, 56 kilometers from the finish, the gap had come down to 4' 15'' even though Discovery and IAM do not have great flat riders. The best might be Jan Bakelants and Ramunas Navardauskas. The wind was coming sideways and that was keeping the riders alert but no gaps opened in the main bunch as the favorites waited for the climbs.
The start of the Col de Vars was much more interesting than anticipated as many riders decided to give it a go for the stage win. Tom Danielson was the first to attack but John Gadret soon got past the Dutch. They were eventually followed by Przemyslaw Niemiec, Jakob Fuglsang and Kanstantsin Siutsou. They were all far behind in the GC and Discovery did not mind them going for it. The gap of the early break to the bunch had increased again in the first part of the climb to 4' 45'' as most looked confident of cutting their lead in the final climb.
John Atapuma led the early break through the top of the Col de Vars and moved into the 2nd provisional place in the KoM classification. Meanwhile, Pieter Weening attacked in the group of the favorites and this was more important as the Dutch was close to the top 10 in the GC. Tinkoff might be playing for the win in the teams' competition. The gaps for the early break were 55 seconds ahead of Kanstantsin Siutsou, John Gadret, Przemyslaw Niemiec and Tom Danielson, while the bunch was 3' 50'' behind. It was surprising to see that Rein Taaramae, Tiago Machado and Rafal Majka had lost a few meters with that group at the top.
The descent of the Col de Vars was really long as the climb to Risoul started with 14 kilometers to go. John Atapuma punctured and lost track with the break, losing his chances. As soon as the road picked up Tom Danielson and John Gadret, who had made it into the front group left the other behind. With 12 kilometers to go they had a gap of 20 seconds. Meanwhile, Discovery Channel was leading the main group with Ruben Plaza and Beñat Intxausti. The loss of Rein Taaramae and Tiago Machado grew to 2 minutes so a top 10 place was up for grabs.
The favorites waited a little bit to move but with 9 kilometers to go it was Hubert Dupont who did it first. Jean-Christophe Peraud could not speculate today and followed the move by his fellow Frenchman. However, their move did not last long and soon Robert Gesink counterattacked and opened a 15 seconds gap over the group of the leader. Meanwhile, Tom Danielson and John Gadret were joined at the front of the race by Kanstantsin Siutsou and Przemyslaw Niemiec. Their gap was decreasing fast as the favorites attacked one another and the pace picked up considerably.
Another attack by Cadel Evans triggered a real break in the group of favorites and only 5 of them made progress as they started to catch riders from the early break: Jean-Christophe Peraud, Robert Gesink, Cadel Evans, Laurens Ten Dam and Hubert Dupont. With 5 kilometers to go they were still 1' 55'' behind the leaders so the fight for the stage was not clear at all. Among those that could not follow were Jerome Coppel and Marco Pinotti. Their group was 45 seconds behind Peraud's. Meanwhile, Tiago Machado was still way behind and his top 10 position in the GC was practically lost.
Robert Gesink gave it all with an attack a bit less than 4 kilometers from the finish line. The Dutch needed to open a gap with Jean-Christophe Peraud but he could have waited for the last kilometer. It was so hard that they ended up catching the riders at the front of the race with 2 kilometers to go but by that time Peraud managed to come to the front of the group alongside Gesink. The French was telling him without words that his attempts were worthless. There was a bit of a rest right after and that allowed Jerome Coppel to join the front group alongside Levi Leipheimer.
Robert Gesink did not have the legs to attack again and instead it was Jean-Christophe Peraud that was leading the group with 700 meters to go. The leader was followed by Hubert Dupont, Tejay van Garderen, Robert Gesink and Frank Schleck. Van Garderen proved today that yesterday's bad performance was a 1 day issue and climbed with the best to Risoul. It is uncertain whether it was the weather that took the energy out of the Trek rider or other issues but he seemed back to his best today.
Jean-Christophe Peraud wins in Risoul! Peraud made a statement today as he took not only the stage but also the overall GC at Risoul. This is the first time that the Discovery rider takes a stage race win and he did it under enormous pressure from a threatening Robert Gesink. The Dutch tried his best with 2 attacks that looked very hard but both times he got a good response from Peraud. Laurens Ten Dam was 2nd in the stage and crossed the line 12 seconds behind Peraud leading a group of favorites.
The third place in the stage was for Tejay van Garderen ahead of Jerome Coppel and Robert Gesink. At some point in the climb it looked like Coppel would lose his podium position to Laurens Ten Dam but the French recovered in the last few kilometers to grab a result that is well deserved. It is the first time for Coppel in the podium of a race. It is also good to see Pieter Weening back in a top 10 as the 2011 Giro still has quality on his legs.
