Chris Froome lost it all in today's final stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné when he dropped from second to twelth in the overall standings. The Brit reveals that he suffered more from his crash than originally said and that he was unable to use the same muscles as he had done in the first five stages.

Mikel Nieve produced a storming ride to win the final stage of the Criterium du Dauphine and Chris Froome topped the points classification, despite finishing the race in 12th place overall.

Nieve was one of three Team Sky riders who formed part of an early 23-man breakaway, but when David Lopez and Richie Porte dropped back to support Froome midway through the stage, the Basque rider was given the freedom to press on and made his winning move with 3.3km to go on the Montée de Courchevel Le Praz.

The 30-year-old dug deep as he forged towards the summit of the category-one climb, and wrapped his first Team Sky success with a three-second cushion over Roman Bardet (Orica-GreenEdge).

Back down the road, the general classification was being turned on its head as Andrew Talansky worked his way to a surprise overall victory. The Garmin-Sharp rider had joined Nieve among the early escapees, and with Tinkoff-Saxo unable to mount a full-blooded chase, the American rider’s fourth-placed finish proved enough to take the yellow jersey.

Alberto Contador had produced a brave solo pursuit after distancing Froome on the penultimate ascent, but he crossed the line one minute and six seconds behind Talansky which meant that Talansky sealed the biggest win of his career by a 27-second margin.

Froome, meanwhile, was still feeling the effects of a nasty crash on stage five, and despite working hard to limit his losses, he rolled home over four minutes adrift.

Froome’s disappointment at slipping down the standings was tempered by the team’s third stage victory, however, and the 29-year-old’s two wins earlier in the week ensured he took the green jersey at the end of a solid week in the saddle.

After the stage Froome was able to shed some light on his below-par performance and insisted the team could take plenty of positives from this year's race.

He said: "I've felt completely blocked up through my front of quads since the crash and I’ve not been able to engage the same types of muscles that I used in the earlier stages.

"That definitely affected me today, and while it's frustrating, we can take a lot of things away from this race. We’ve had three stage wins, taken the points jersey, and produced a dominant team performance.

"Tinkoff-Saxo only held the jersey for one day but we defended it for six stages until Alberto took it yesterday. He’s shown he’s in great form ahead of the Tour though, and we’re definitely going to have a battle on our hands in July."