photo credits @ Twitter
Froome back in business, Van Garderen back in the lead
excerpts from Le Tour
Stage 7 in the 67th Critérium du Dauphiné has seen another turnaround of events with Chris Froome making it up for the time and morale lost in the past few days. The Kenyan-born winner of the 2013 Tour de France bounced back as a mountain stage winner, ahead of Tejay van Garderen who regained position on top of the overall classification while yellow-blue jersey wearer Vincenzo Nibali lost four minutes in the last twelve kilometers of the race. Eritrea’s Daniel Teklehaimanot made history being the first African rider to secure the polka dot jersey in such a big race ahead of his first participation to the Tour de France.
145 riders took the start of stage 7, fourteen of them rode away after four kilometres: Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale), Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Soudal), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Tiago Machado (Katusha), Pieter Serry (Etix-Quick Step), Riccardo Zoidl (Trek), Chris Anker Sørensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Perrig Quémeneur (Europcar), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN) and Björn Thurau (Bora). It gave Teklehaimanot the opportunity to score more points at the first two King of the Mountain prices and therefore to consolidate his lead in the fight for the polka dot jersey.
26 riders in the lead
Several counter-attacks showcased Pierre Rolland’s great motivation in climbs like col de Tamié where he made a household name for himself in previous editions of the Tour de France. He bridged the gap on his way up to the col de la Forclaz, after which 26 riders were counted in the front group, the highest ranked of them on GC being David De La Cruz (Etixx-Quick). The 26 escapees at half way into the race were: Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale), Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Soudal), Jonathan Castroviejo and Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Tiago Machado (Katusha), David De La Cruz and Pieter Serry (Etix-Quick Step), Bauke Mollema and Riccardo Zoidl (Trek), Pawel Poljanski and Chris Anker Sørensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Jarlinso Pantano and Marcel Wyss (IAM Cycling), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida), Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Dani Navarro, Nicolas Edet and Luis Maté (Cofidis), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), Louis Meintjes and Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN), Bartosz Huzarski, José Mendes, Dominic Nerz and Björn Thurau (Bora).
Navarro on the attack
After they reached a maximum advantage of four minutes at km 75, Team Sky took the command of the peloton up to the col de la Croix-Fry. They brought the deficit of the yellow-blue jersey group below one minute at km 100 but more attacks occurred at the front once Teklehaimanot secured the polka dot jersey for good, providing that he completes the Dauphiné within the time cut. With 38km to go, Rolland accelerated but Navarro counter-attacked and formed a leading duo with Zoidl. It was the Spaniard’s second attempt after a vain one up the col des Aravis. Castroviejo and Huzarski went in between. Four riders, Navarro, Zoidl, Castroviejo and Huzarski started the final climb at the front but their advantage wasn’t enough to help them stay ahead of the best GC contenders of the day. With 3.5km to go to Le Bettex and its magnificent view over the Mont Blanc, Froome and Van Garderen took the command. 1.5km before the line, Froome rode away solo but didn’t manage to create a big enough gap so it’s Van Garderen back in the yellow-blue jersey one day after losing it to Nibali and one day before the end of the 67th Critérium du Dauphiné.
Stage 7 Results GBR 1 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) 4:24:17 USA 2 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 17 RSA 3 MEINTJES, Louis (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 41 ESP 4 INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA, Benat (MOVISTAR) ESP 5 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 54 FRA 6 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:08 FRA 7 VUILLERMOZ, Alexis (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:15 USA 8 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:25 POR 9 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 1:34 ESP 10 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 1:45 GBR 11 YATES, Simon (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 1:47 ESP 12 VALLS FERRI, Rafael (LAMPRE – MERIDA) IRL 13 MARTIN, Daniel (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:52 ESP 14 DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO, David (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) POL 15 POLJANSKI, Pawel (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:55 FRA 16 ELISSONDE, Kenny (FDJ) + 2:02 ESP 17 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 2:03 FRA 18 ROLLAND, Pierre (EUROPCAR) + 2:12 CRO 19 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 2:30 ESP 20 CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS, Jonathan (MOVISTAR) + 2:36 BEL 21 DE CLERCQ, Bart (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 2:49 SUI 22 WYSS, Marcel (IAM CYCLING) + 3:01 ITA 23 SCARPONI, Michele (ASTANA) + 3:58 ITA 24 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) GER 25 BUCHMANN, Emanuel (BORA-ARGON 18) AUT 26 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) ESP 27 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka (MOVISTAR) + 5:08 NED 28 POELS, Wouter (SKY) + 5:20 NED 29 CLEMENT, Stef (IAM CYCLING) + 5:48 FRA 30 SICARD, Romain (EUROPCAR) + 6:38 DEN 31 SÖRENSEN, Chris Anker (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 6:59 POL 32 HUZARSKI, Bartosz (BORA-ARGON 18) + 8:56 ESP 33 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) ESP 34 HERRADA LOPEZ, José (MOVISTAR) GER 35 THURAU, Bjorn (BORA-ARGON 18) ITA 36 SALERNO, Cristiano (BORA-ARGON 18) ESP 37 PLAZA MOLINA, Ruben (LAMPRE – MERIDA) ESP 38 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) POR 39 MACHADO, Tiago (KATUSHA) IRL 40 DEIGNAN, Philip (SKY) IRL 41 ROCHE, Nicolas (SKY) POR 42 PIMENTA COSTA MENDES, José Joao (BORA-ARGON 18) + 9:24 ESP 43 MATE MARDONES, Luis Angel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 10:19 COL 44 BELTRAN SUAREZ, Eduard Alexander (TINKOFF – SAXO) FRA 45 EDET, Nicolas (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) EST 46 TAARAMAE, Rein (ASTANA) + 11:14 GBR 47 KENNAUGH, Peter (SKY) + 11:18 BEL 48 SERRY, Pieter (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 11:49 ITA 49 CARUSO, Giampaolo (KATUSHA) + 13:00 NED 50 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 13:23
General Classification after Stage 7 USA 1 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) 26:59:27 GBR 2 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 18 ESP 3 INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA, Benat (MOVISTAR) + 45 POR 4 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 1:10 GBR 5 YATES, Simon (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 1:29 ESP 6 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 1:40 FRA 7 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:45 IRL 8 MARTIN, Daniel (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 2:29 USA 9 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 2:39 ESP 10 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 2:46 ITA 11 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) + 3:05 ESP 12 VALLS FERRI, Rafael (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 3:36 ESP 13 DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO, David (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 4:12 CRO 14 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 5:05 BEL 15 DE CLERCQ, Bart (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 5:55 ESP 16 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 6:36 ESP 17 CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS, Jonathan (MOVISTAR) + 8:53 ESP 18 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka (MOVISTAR) + 11:59 ESP 19 PLAZA MOLINA, Ruben (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 14:59 ESP 20 HERRADA LOPEZ, José (MOVISTAR) + 18:08
You must be logged in to post a comment.