photo credits @ Le Tour
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) won the opening 4 kilometer uphill time trial from Les Gets to Mont Chéry in today’s Critérium du Dauphiné, earning the Spanish rider both the prologue honors, as well as the race’s first leader jersey.
Meanwhile, Richie Porte (BMC Racing) finished second, followed by Chris Froome (Sky) who rounded out the podium in third.
“It’s a bit of a surprise to beat Froome and Porte, but I knew that I could do well. I didn’t think that I could win,” a happy Contador said after the race.
“It was only a four-kilometre prologue, but that was really tough. There were gradients of 20 per cent, and I was running out of legs and just squeezing every bit out for the line,” said Froome. “I’m happy with the numbers and the feelings I had on the bike. I’m in good shape but I’ve still got some work to do, and we’re a month out from the Tour still. I’m glad that’s out of the way.
“I had a look at the weather and in the last few days here it’s been raining in the afternoons here. Also, I just thought it would be easier to just get up and race, rather than wait all day. It also gives me a bit more recovery for tomorrow.
Race Highlights
Louis Meintjes (Lampre-Merida), that set the first benchmark time as he stopped the clock at 12:30. He didn’t have long to wait until Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) kicked him off the hot seat, who was subsequently bettered by Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep). Alaphilippe, brimming with confidence from his recent Tour of California victory, put in a dominating performance to set a time of 12 minutes flat.
Froome was the first rider to break through the 12-minute barrier – setting a time of 11:49.
Contador, who was the third from last rider to set off, had already caught his minute man Arthur Vichot (FDJ) before the halfway point.
With no intermediate checks, it was a nervous wait until the Spaniard entered the final kilometer well ahead of Froome’s time. And, by the time he reached the finish line, he was 13 seconds quicker than Froome.
Porte was next to stop the clock, going six seconds short of the time set by Contador ensuring that the Tinkoff rider laid claim to the first leader’s jersey of the race.
Prologue Results ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF) 11:36 AUS 2 PORTE, Richie (BMC RACING) + 6 GBR 3 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 13 IRL 4 MARTIN, Daniel (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 21 FRA 5 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 24 NED 6 POELS, Wout (SKY) + 25 FRA 7 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 29 GBR 8 YATES, Adam (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 31 ITA 9 ROSA, Diego (ASTANA) + 37 ESP 10 HERRADA LOPEZ, Jesus (MOVISTAR) + 39 ESP 11 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 43 ESP 12 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (SKY) + 44 POL 13 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (SKY) + 45 ITA 14 GASPAROTTO, Enrico (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) + 46 NED 15 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK – SEGAFREDO) + 48 CAN 16 HESJEDAL, Ryder (TREK – SEGAFREDO) + 49 FRA 17 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ) + 52 ITA 18 CONTI, Valerio (LAMPRE – MERIDA) GBR 19 CUMMINGS, Stephen (DIMENSION DATA) + 53 RSA 20 MEINTJES, Louis (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 54 ITA 21 CARUSO, Damiano (BMC RACING) BEL 22 HERMANS, Ben (BMC RACING) ITA 23 CATALDO, Dario (ASTANA) FRA 24 COPPEL, Jerome (IAM CYCLING) + 55 GER 25 BUCHMANN, Emanuel (BORA-ARGON 18) RSA 26 IMPEY, Daryl (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 58 USA 27 BOOKWALTER, Brent (BMC RACING) BEL 28 VERVAEKE, Louis (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 59 ETH 29 GRMAY, Tsgabu Gebremaryam (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 1:00 AUS 30 DENNIS, Rohan (BMC RACING) + 1:01 ESP 31 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 1:02 ESP 32 ANTON HERNANDEZ, Igor (DIMENSION DATA) SUI 33 REICHENBACH, Sébastien (FDJ) + 1:03 FRA 34 ROLLAND, Pierre (CANNONDALE) + 1:06 CZE 35 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF) + 1:08 ITA 36 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) ESP 37 SOLER, Marc (MOVISTAR) + 1:09 DEN 38 HANSEN, Jesper (TINKOFF) NED 39 CLEMENT, Stef (IAM CYCLING) + 1:11 ESP 40 PEDRERO LOPEZ, Antonio (MOVISTAR) + 1:12
General Classification after Prologue ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF) 11:36
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