Froome takes the stage and the overall lead in Criterium du Dauphiné
Chris Froome won Critérium du Dauphiné’s first road stage in the mountains and took the overall lead from Alberto Contador. The Tinkoff leader started the day in yellow, and looked confident on the lower slopes of the category 2 climb to Vaugany, France, but in the final two kilometers of the 140km race, Sky’s Froome proved strongest. Only BMC’s Richie Porte could follow, and Etixx – Quick-Step’s Dan Martin rode home to third, 19 seconds in arrears, just ahead of Contador.
With the win, Froome moves into the lead with a 7-second advantage over Porte while Contador is now third 27 seconds behind the Brit. Froome faces an even bigger challenge tomorrow in the queen stage. After a tough start with a category 1 and 2 climb, the riders will face the mighty Col de la Madeleine at the midpoint. A long descent leads to another category 1 climb before the riders get to the bottom of the final category 1 ascent that averages 6.6% over 12.3km.
“It’s an amazing feeling. It’s always good to win a race before the Tour de France. The team rode very well day to take me to the final climb in the best position. They set it up perfectly for me,” Froome said. “I didn’t expect to gain time on Alberto Contador on such a short climb.”
“I know from past experiences that he never gives up. We’ll see what he’s got tomorrow,” Froome said. “There’s still a hard stage to come tomorrow so I haven’t won the Dauphiné yet.”
Criterium du Dauphiné 2016 – stage 5 results (La Ravoire – Vaujany):
| 1 | Christopher Froome (Sky) |
3:32:20 |
| 2 | Richie Porte (BMC) |
+01” |
| 3 | Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) |
+19” |
| 4 | Daniel Martin (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
,, |
| 5 | Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) |
+21” |
| 6 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) |
+25” |
| 7 | Pierre Rolland (Cannondale) |
+27” |
| 8 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) |
,, |
| 9 | Louis Meintjes (Lampre – Merida) |
,, |
| 10 | Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
,, |
General classification after stage 5:
| 1 | Christopher Froome (Sky) |
21:24:59 |
| 2 | Richie Porte (BMC) |
+07” |
| 3 | Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) |
+27” |
| 4 | Daniel Martin (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
+37” |
| 5 | Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
+42” |
| 6 | Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) |
+52” |
| 7 | Diego Rosa (Astana) |
+01’08” |
| 8 | Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) |
+01’16” |
| 9 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) |
+01’21” |
| 10 | Louis Meintjes (Lampre – Merida) |
+01’27” |
