Kenny Elissonde proved his potential as a climber when he finished 12th in yesterday's first mountain stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné. With longer, harder climbs in the weekend, the tiny Frenchman has a great chance to improve on that performance and could turn out to become a valuable domestique for Thibaut Pinot in the Tour de France.

Last year Kenny Elissonde proved what a great climber he is when he won the Vuelta a Espana queen stage to the top of the Angliru. Since then, he has not been able to live up to the lofty expectations placed on his shoulders but yesterday he again showed his great potential.

On the Col du Beal in the first mountain stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné, the Frenchman did an excellent job to finish 12th, just 51 seconds behind stage winner Chris Froome. The result was highly encouragning for the tiny climber as the pretty easy finishing climb didn't suit his skills too well.

"Mika Delage, Arnaud Démare, William Bonnet and finally Yoann Offredo have positioned me at the foot of te climb," he said. ""It was a nice climb that was made ​​very difficult by Team Sky's and the fight was started by Froome 6 kilometers from the finish. Until then, the bunch had gradually lost riders. We were still twenty but when he attacked, I didn't want to go into the red. With the heat, it was impossible to recover.

"It's good for my morale. I'm happy to be at the highest level. Almost all the favourites for the Tour de France are here. I recovered well from training in the Pyrenees and the Bayern Rundfahrt.

"I am in good condition and I will try to make beautiful stages in the Alps in the weekend, where the climbs, I think, will suit me better. If that's the case, the results come naturally, in particular regarding the overall standings."

Today FDJ is likely to play an even more prominent role with star sprinter Arnaud Demare who will have to do without key domestique David Boucher. The Frenchman suffered from the heat and missed the time cut in yesterday's stage.