Chris Froome (Sky) confirmed that he is getting into his best form for the Tour de France when he took an emphatic solo victory in the Criterium du Dauphiné queen stage. After Tejay van Garderen (BMC) had been able to respond to his first attack, he kicked again with 1.6km to go and this time the American could only watch as the Brit rode away with the stage win. However, the American has taken back the yellow jersey and goes into the final stage with an advantage of 18 seconds over his British rival.

 

The 2015 season has been a hard one for Chris Froome who has been far from his usual level in most of the races. After he won a stage and the overall at the Ruta del Sol in February, he hasn’t been on the top step of the podium in any race after he missed out on the Tirreno-Adriatico with illness and was off the pace in both the Volta a Catalunya and the Tour de Romandie.

 

After his usual training camp on Mount Teide, he has been hoping to return to his winning ways in the Criterium du Dauphiné which has been a happy hunting ground for the Brit over the last two years. However, the first part of the race has been another disappointment for the Brit.

 

Sky did a surprisingly poor team time trial that saw them lose 35 seconds to BMC. In the first two mountain stages, he was unable to ride away from his rivals in the way he usually does and two days ago he was even distanced by Tejay van Garderen just before the line.

 

Today Froome finally returned to his winning ways and showed that he is getting ready for the Tour de France when he emerged as the strongest in the queen stage of the race. After his team had prepared his big attack all day, he and van Garderen were again involved in a big duel on the final climb and this time it was the Brit who came out on top.

 

It had been another fast start to the stage and at one point no less than 26 riders had formed a front group. As they hit the bottom of the final climb, that group had split into pieces and it was Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) and Riccardo Zoidl (Trek) who led the race with a 25-second advantage over Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) and Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18) while a 10-rider group with Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), Marcel Wyss (IAM), Chris Anker Sørensen, Pawel Poljanski (Tinkoff-Saxo), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Davide de la Cruz (Etixx-QuickStep) and Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r) was 1.05 behind.

 

In the peloton, Sky had made the race blow to pieces and at one point only 20 riders had been left in the main group. A regrouping had taken place and it was Ian Boswell who led 40 riders onto the climb with a  deficit of 2.55.

 

As soon as they hit the climb, the chase group split up until only Elissonde, Rolland, Meintjes, Poljanski and Vuillermoz were left. De la Cruz and Wyss briefly rejoined them but they were soon dropped again.

 

In the peloton, Boswell swung off and left it to Philip Deignan to take a short turn before Peter Kennaugh took over. The British champion did an amazing job and made the front group explode to pieces.

 

With 10km to go, race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was dropped and even though Michele Scarponi and Rein Taaramae waited for him, he would never made it back to the front. Rui Costa, Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida), Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Andrew Talansky (Cannondale) also got dropped and when Kennaugh led them over the top of the first part of the double climb, only Wout Poels, Froome (Sky), van Garderen (BMC), Dan Martin (Cannondale), Alejandro Valverde, Benat Intxausti (Movistar), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Robert Kiserlovski (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r) had survived.

 

At this point, the gap to the leaders was down to just 1.30. Castroviejo and Huzarski caught the front dup while the next group had been whittled down to just Meintjes, Vuillermoz and Poljanski after the latter two had attacked.

 

Martin punctured out of the main group while Costa, Talansky, Yates and Vallas managed to rejoin them on the short descent. Meanwhile, Rolland made it back to the chase group which was about to catch the leaders.

 

As they hit the bottom of the final 7km ascent, Kennaugh swung off and it was now Poels setting the pace. Yates, Kiserlovski, Talansky, Costa and Valls were dropped, leaving just 7 riders in the main group.

 

In the front group, Castroviejo attacked and this was too much for Zoidl who dropped back to the chasers. When the Spaniard went again, Huzarski also lost contact while Vuillermoz, Meintjes and Poljanski dropped Rolland.

 

Valverde cracked in a spectacular way and fell back to the group with Costa and Talansky. The main group was now just 25 seconds behind the leaders who were losing ground.

 

With 3km to go, Froome made his expected attack and van Garderen was the only one who could match his pace. The duo flew past the chasers and made it up to the leaders where Navarro briefly tried to stay in contact before he was dropped.

 

Further back, Intxausti was chasing and Castroeviejo dropped back to help his leader. Bardet was further back and was getting assistance from Vuillermoz who had dropped back to support his captain.

 

Intxausti dropped Castroviejo but an impressive Meintjes managed to stay with the Basque. Those two riders were the nearest chasers behind Froome and van Garderen but they were constantly losing ground. Rodriguez was next while Bardet, Vuillermoz, Navarro and Poljanski had gathered further back.

 

The two leaders worked well together until Froome made his final big attack with 1.6km to go. This time van Garderen didn’t even try to respond and the Brit quickly got a big gap.

 

Froome passed the flamme rouge with a 10-second advantage but his American rival did a great performance to limit his losses. At the finish, he had only lost 17 seconds to the Brit who sprinted to the line to maximize his gains. Meintjes managed to beat Intxausti in the sprint for third while Rodriguez completed the top 5.

 

Van Garderen now moves back into race lead and goes into the final stage with an 18-second advantage over Froome. However, all is still to play for on the final day as there is another summit finish in Modane Valfrejus. After a lumpy first part with 5 smaller climbs, it will all be decided on the final 8.4km climb which has an average gradient of 5.7%.

 

The queen stage

After yesterday’s big drama, even tougher climbing was in store for the queen stage which brought the riders over 155km from Montmelian to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. After a flat start, the riders tackled the category 1 Col de Tamié and Col de la Forclaz in quick succession before an easier section led to the category 1 Col de la Croix Fry and the category 3 Col des Aravis. A long section of descending and flat roads finally brought the riders to the final double climb that was first made up of the very steep Cote des Aramands and then the 7km climb of Montee du Bettex after a short descent.

 

Unlike yesterday, the riders had dry conditions when they left Montmelian to head out on their hardest ride this week. All riders who finished yesterday’s stage, were present and prepared for a brutal start.

 

A big group gets clear

Surprisingly, the early break was formed almost straight from the gun when 14 riders attacked. After 4km of racing, Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin), Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r), Pim Ligthart (Lotto Soudal), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Tiago Machado (Katusha), Pieter Serry (Etixx-QuickStep), Riccardo Zoidl (Trek), Chris Anker Sørensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) and Björn Thurau (Bora-Argon 18) had an advantage of 30 seconds.

 

The gap went out to 1.50 but Europcar had big plans with Pierre Rolland. While Machado fought his way back to the front group after a puncture, the French team started to chase and at the 20km mark they had brought the gap down to 1.30.

 

Rolland takes off

More teams came to the fore as LottoNL-Jumbo, Astana and Lampre-Merida started to work with Europcar and as they hit the Col du Tamié, they had kept the gap at a manageable 1.35. As soon as the road pointed upwards, Rolland, Bauke Mollema (Trek), Mathias Frank (IAM) and Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka)attacked and Quemeneur quickly dropped back to help his team leader. Unfortunately, their offensive didn’t pay off and at the 32km mark, they were back in the fold, with the peloton sitting 1.05 behind the leaders.

 

Pantano was dropped from the front group while the attacking continued in the peloton. Rolland was relentless as he was again part of the action, going on the offensive with Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), David de la Cruz (Etixx-QuickStep), Pawel Poljanski (Tinkoff-Saxo), Daniel Navarro, Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Bartosz Huzarski and José Mendes (Bora-Argon 18). Before they reached the summit, Marcel Wyss (IAM), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida), Dominik Nerz (Bora-Argon 18), Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka) and Mollema joined the group).

 

More KOM points for Teklehaimanot

Teklehaimanot led Vuillermoz, Sørensen, Serry, Elissonde and Edet over the top while the chasers followed less than one minute later. The peloton had been distanced by 1.40.

 

Ligthart was the next rider to get dropped from the front group and he fell back to Pantano who had been joined by Huzarski, the Pole having attacked out of the lead group. The latter quickly distanced his companions and made it up to the leaders before they hit the Col de la Forclaz.

 

Sky hit the front

As they started to climb, Rolland, Poljanski, Navarro and Meintjes joined the front group and later de la Cruz, Castroviejo, Pantano, Nerz, Wyss, Mendes, Mate, Plaza, Mollema and Ligthart also managed to join the leaders to make it a 25-rider group. When Teklehaimanot led Sørensen, Meintjes, Mate, Haas and de la Cruz over the top, they had extended their advantage to 3.55.

 

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-QuickStep) and Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida) abandoned the race while the peloton made use of an easier section to keep the gap around 3.50. As soon as they hit the Col de la Croix-Fry, it was time for Sky to kick into action and they made the peloton blow to pieces as riders like Tony Maetin (Etixx-QuickStep), Lars Boom (Astana)) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) were all dropped.

 

Yates is dropped

The gap was melting away and at the 86km mark, the escapees only had an advantage of 2.10. At this point Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r), Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) were all dropped. The main group was now down to just 49 riders.

 

The elimination also started in the front group where Pantano was the first to get dropped and later Mollema, Ligthart and Plaza also lost contact. Meanwhile, Sky continued their fast riding and this was too much for Simon and Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) who were both distanced.

 

The break splits up

Mollema was caught by the peloton which was just 1.15 behind at the 98km mark. At this point, Thurau, Serry and Mate had also been dropped, leaving just 18 riders in the front group. At the top of the climb, Teklehaimanot led Meintjes, Navarro, de la Cruz, Elissonde and Nerz over the line while the peloton followed one minute later.

 

Yates managed to make it back to the main group on the short descent that led to the Col des Aravis. Here Navarro made an unsuccessful attack from the break but he was brought back before the top where Teklehaimanot led Edet over the line.

 

Navarro and Zoidl get clear

The front group was now whittled down to Teklehaimanot, Edet, Meintjes, Navarro, Huzarski, Sørensen, Poljanski, Elissonde, de la Cruz, Rolland, Castroviejo, Izagirre, Zoidl and Wyss. They did well to extend their advanateg over the peloton in the flat section while a regrouping allowed a 40-rider group to gather behind.

 

With 37km to go, Edet tried to attack and when he was brought back, Rolland, Navarro and Poljanski countered. The Spaniard got clear and stayed ahead for a while before Zoidl bridged the gap.

 

The peloton loses ground

In the peloton, Deignan had set the pace until Boswell took over but he lost lots of time to the front dup. With 30km to go, they were 2.50 behind and the gap went out to 3.05 before they again started to get closer. At this point, the chasers had been distanced by 45 seconds.

 

Teklehaimanot dropped back to the peloton while Castroviejo and Huzarski took off in pursuit of the leader. As they hit the final climb, they were 25 seconds behind while Sørensen was doing all the work in the next group 1 minute behind. Moments later it all exploded and set the scene for a dramatic finale.