On Saturday, LAMPRE-MERIDA raced in two countries, France and Switzerland, taking part in the Critèrium du Dauphinè and in the Tour de Suisse.

In the 7th stage of the Critèrium du Dauphinè, Montmèlian-Saint Gervais Mont Blanc (155km) with five 1st category climbs and one of the 3rd category, Rui Costa delivered a good performance, obtaining 9th place.

After having won the 6th stage, the Portuguese from Team LAMPRE-MERIDA stayed with the top riders for most of the stage and on the two final climbs he limited his losses, also exploiting the help by team mate Rafael Valls, losing 1'34" to Chris Froome.

After the stage, Rui Costa is 4th in the overall classification, 1'10" behind the new leader van Garderen and 25" behind third place (Intxausti).

It was also a good performance by Ruben Plaza, who was one of the 26 members of the main breakaway, and by Valls who demonstrated his qualities on the climbs by supporting Rui Costa and finishing 12th (in the general classification he's 12th at 3'36").

Pozzato did not finish the stage, he'll be back to racing on the 21st of June as part of the the Italian National team which will take part in the European Games.

"Today we had very interesting feedbacks about the performance of the team," team manager Brent Copeland said. "After yesterday' efforts, Rui succeded in delivering a good performance on a course which was not completely suitable for him, especially because of the two last very steep climbs. Rui, well supported by an impressive Valls, could limit the gap to Froome as opposed to what happened to other top riders. Plaza too demonstrated his improving condition in view of the Tour de France."

"I suffered today," Costa wrote on his website. "I knew that I would pay the bill after yesterday. When I woke up I felt tired and my legs hurt immensely so the suffering of today was expected. I had to suffer and to give everything to reach the finish line with the least possible time loss. However, I'm excited with this result, just look at the standings and see the great names that are there. With the help of my teammate Valls, I managed to minimize losses. 

"Tomorrow is the last day and it will be a very aggressive stage. I must be attentive to be with the best in the GC. Froome has proven that he is strong and I believe that Sky will set a fast pace in order to eliminate their rivals."

There was no blue-fuchsia-green presence in the upper part of the stage standings after the Tour de Suisse prologue. The best performance for LAMPRE-MERIDA in the time trial in Risch-Rotrkeuz was delivered by Niemiec who covered the 5100 meters in 6'08" (average speed of 49,891 km/h), 27" more than winner Dumoulin.