French rider Thibaut Pinot won yesterday’s sixth and penultimate stage of the Criterium du Dauphine with Britain’s Chris Froome holding the race lead going into the final stage.
FDJ rider Pinot, 26, snatched the stage win ahead of countryman Romain Bardet, 25, after the 141km run from La Rochette to Meribel in the French Alps.
Sky’s Froome crossed fourth 1min 04sec off the pace just behind Ireland’s Dan Martin to hold the yellow jersey going into the final day’s racing today.
Bardet’s AG2R La Mondiale outfit put in a concerted effort to ensure the team leader arrived at the foot of the final 12.3km climb with a 2min 45sec advantage on the first peloton. Bardet attacked a first time at 10km before being joined by Pinot with the two battling for supremacy to the line.
Froome slightly increased his overall advantage to 21 seconds on Australian Richie Porte and
Bardet.
“If I’m still wearing the yellow jersey it’s thanks to my team,” said Froome, whose teammates neutralised an attack by Spaniard Alberto Contador at the Col de la Madeleine – the only major climb of the week.
“If someone had said at la Madeleine that I would win I wouldn’t have believed it. I felt the same as the previous days but then it all came together in the final,” said Pinot after his fifth win of the season.
“I prefer to win a stage than finish sixth overall. The polka dot jersey (top climber) can be an objective now,” added Pinot, who is tenth in the overall standings.
Froome, 31, won the Dauphine in 2013 and 2015 – and each time went on to ride to victory in the Tour de France.
Today’s final stage covers 151km from Pont-de-Claix to the Alpine ski resort of Superdevoluy, with a 7.5km climb less than 12km from the line.