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Chris Froome maintains lead of Critérium du Dauphiné after fifth stage Chris Froome maintains lead of Critérium du Dauphiné after fifth stage
(about 3 hours later)
Simon Spilak won the fifth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné on Thursday, while Team Sky’s riders worked hard to protect Chris Froome’s overall lead. Chris Froome maintained his 12-second lead at the top of the Critérium du Dauphiné standings after a tough fifth stage on Thursday.
Spilak, of Slovenia, pulled away on the ascent of Côte de Laffrey, the final climb of the day. The Katusha rider completed the 189.5km (117.7 mile) stage from Sisteron to La Mure in 4hr 51min and 24sec. Wilco Kelderman outsprinted Adam Yates to finish second, 14 seconds back. Froome’s Team Sky team-mates combined to ensure he reeled in closest rival Alberto Contador in a stage eventually won by Simon Spilak of the Katusha team.
Alberto Contador attacked on the descent of Col de la Morte to build a lead of 57 seconds over Froome, 23km (15 miles) from the finish. But the Sky riders Richie Porte and Mikel Nieve Iturralde led the pack on the Col de Laffrey to catch Contador. Spilak shrugged off his rivals on the final descent, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Wilco Kelderman and England’s Adam Yates, with Froome and Contador in a group of 24 riders who finished three seconds further back.
Results from Critérium du Dauphiné (Sisteron-La Mure) The result leaves Froome out in front while Kelderman has moved level with Contador in second place in the overall standings as a result of the six bonus seconds he earned at the line.
1 Simon Spilak (Slov/Katusha) 4hr 51min 24sec; 2 Wilco Kelderman (Neth/Belkin) +14sec; 3 Adam Yates (GB/Orica); 4 Daryl Impey (SA/Orica) +17sec; 5 Romain Bardet (Fr/ AG2R); 6 Daniel Moreno (Sp/Katusha); 7 Tanel Kangert (Est/Astana); 8 Damiano Caruso (It/Cannondale); 9 Arthur Vichot (Fr/ FDJ.fr); 10 Leopold Koenig (Cz Rep/NetApp) Froome told Team Sky’s official website: “Sometimes it’s the days that don’t look so hard on paper that turn out to be the really tough ones and today was non-stop.
Classification after stage five “It took 85km for the breakaway to form and then Contador went up the road to put us under pressure. I still had four team-mates at that point though which meant I could stay calm in the knowledge they would pull him back.
Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 19hr 01min 00sec; 2 Alberto Contador (Sp/Tinkoff-Saxo) +12sec; 3. Wilco Kelderman (Neth/Belkin); 4 Andrew Talansky (US/Garmin) +33sec; 5 Jürgen Van den Broeck (Belgium/Lotto) +35sec; 6 Vincenzo Nibali (It/Astana) +50sec; 7 Haimar Zubeldia (Sp/Trek) +1min 22sec; 8 Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana); 9 Adam Yates (GB/Orica) +1min 24sec; 10 Tanel Kangert (Est/Astana) +1min 35sec “I’m hugely proud of the guys today, they did such a massive job and it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Friday’s sixth stage sees the riders given a break from the mountains as they traverse the 178.5km stage from Grenoble to Poisy.