Chris Froome (Sky) showed that he is the strongest rider in the Criterium du Dauphiné this year when he caught and dropped his rival Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) and blasted by the lone leader Matthew Busche (Radioshack) inside the final kilometer of the HC climb to the finish line in today's fifth stage. Race leader Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) lost 59 seconds and so Froome has moved himself into the race lead ahead of teammate Richie Porte with three mountainous stages still to come.

Yesterday Chris Froome proved that he is the strongest time triallist among the Tour favourites at the Criterium du Dauphiné. Today he proved that he will be very hard to beat on the French roads next month when he also emerged as the race's best climber.

Hard work by the Movistar and Sky teams had whittled down the yellow jersey group to just 13 riders inside final 5km of the stage and they were in pursuit of the last two remaining riders from the day's early escape Matthew Busche (Radioshack) and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Belisol) who were being chased by a lone Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who had attacked a little earlier in the climb. The group was being led by Froome's trusted lieutenant Richie Porte while race leader Rohan Dennis was firmly attached to his wheel.

The Saxo-Tinkoff trio Alberto Contador, Michael Rogers and Jesus Hernandez, Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco), Rein Taaramae and Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Daniel Moreno (Katusha), Leopold König (NetApp-Endura) and Bart De Clercq (Lotto-Belisol) were the remaining riders in the front group at this point and the Saxo-Tinkoff riders were prominently staying in the wheel of Dennis. Up ahead Wellens had to let Busche go with 4,8km to go and the Belgian was quickly passed by Valverde before being caught by the peloton.

The first rider to drop off the pace in the yellow jersey group was König who had to let the group go with 3km to go. Moments later, Valverde realized that he was getting nowhere and decided to wait for his chasers, slotting into the chase group by attaching himself to Froome's wheel.

Dennis who had looked comfortable until now, suddenly started to struggle and dropped from the very front of the group all the way down the rear end before getting dropped for good with 2,4km to go. Meanwhile, Porte just kept tapping along at his own tempo and the Australian had now reduced the lead of Busche to less than 30 seconds.

With 1,4km to go, Contador decided to test his legs, and at first Taaramae was the only one to respond. The Estonian stayed in the wheel of the grand tour winner for a few hundred meters before getting dropped. Meanwhile, Froome decided to stay in Porte's wheel but the Australian had clearly upped the pace, reducing the group to only 6 riders.

With a little more than 1km to go, Froome decided it was time to kick into action, and the Briton went to the front himself. Only Valverde, Rogers and Moreno were able to keep up with the strong Briton for a short while but soon after he was on his own.

He passed Taaramae and caught Contador who dug very deep to stay in Froome's wheel. He was saved by a short, flatter stretch but when the road kicked up again inside the final 500m, the Spaniard had to let his big rival go. Froome continued on his own and caught Busche with just a few hundred meters left to race. After a hard day in front, the American had nothing left in the tank and Froome left him behind to take his third mountaintop win of the year.

Contador picked up Busche and the dup crossed the line 4 seconds later. Valverde finished 4th a further 6 seconds adrift while Rogers, Moreno and Taaramae crossed the line just 2 seconds later. Dennis fought hard to finish only 59 seconds later than Froome but lost his overall lead as he fell down into 3rd on GC.

With the win Froome moves himself into the lead, 52 seconds ahead of his teammate Porte while Rogers and Moreno are next in line. The Briton seems to be untouchable in this year's race and it is very hard to imagine anyone beating him in the remaining three mountainous stages.

The first of those is tomorrow. Despite 4 tough climbs along the way, the final 45km are mostly flat or downhill, the stage seems destined to end in a sprint while the GC riders can save themselves for the two tough stages in the weekend.

Starting at 12.45, you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

A big group goes clear

The short 139km stage to the ski station Valmorel offered the Duaphiné peloton their first real encounter with the mountains in this year's race. The start of the stage was an aggressive one with multiple attacks and after a little reshuffling, 12 riders emerged in front of the peloton.

Tim Wellens (Lotto), Francesco Gavazzi (Astana), Tom-Jelte Slagter (Blanco), Matthew Busche (Radioshack), Daniel Teklehaimanot (Orica-GreenEdge), Peio Beilbao (Euskaltel), Kevin Reza (Europcar), Frantisek Rabon (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Cayetano Sarmiento (Cannondale), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Bert-Jan Lindeman (Vacansoleil) and Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp-Endura) moved clear and after a long chase, they were joined by KOM leader Thomas Damuseau (Argos-Shimano), David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura) and Brent Bookwalter (BMC) to form the day's big 15-man move.

Katusha starts to chase

The group was allowed to build up a gap of 5.15 before the Garmin team of race leader Dennis started to control the peloton. For a long time Jacob Rathe and Caleb Fairly did all the work in the main group but that all changed after around 60km when Katusha decided to join the chase by putting time triallists Timofey Kritskiy and Mikhail Ignatiev on the front.

The four riders managed to bring back the gap gradually but it required some tough work. Despite the size of the front group, the cooperation was rather smooth and especially Rabon and Huzaski - working for teammate De La Cruz - took some huge turns. Meanwhile, Damuseau of course made sure to take maximum points on the day's first three climbs to extend his lead in the battle for the polka-dot jersey while Rabon won the intermediate sprint to protect the lead in the points competition of his teammate Meersman.

Movistar shows their cards

With 35km to go, Movistar decided to show their hand by putting Jonatahn Castroviejo on the front - despite the presence of Erviti in the front group - as Valverde wanted to win the stage. Moments later, Eloy Teruel was also seen at the front while Katusha - who had worked for Moreno - stopped chasing.

On the day's penultimate climb, Rathe and Fairly had finished their work and until 15km to go, the work at the front was being done by Castroviejo, Teruel and Michel Kreder (Garmin-Sharp). Meanwhile, riders started to drop off as the pace was extremely high and the peloton completely strung out.

The front group splits up

With 16km to go, Huzarski took a huge turn in the front group and almost by coincidence, the Pole and Teklehaimanot were now alone in the lead. After a little hesitation, they decided to keep on with their attack and the group built up a solid gap after they were reinforced by Rabon who joined the move.

With 14km to go and 2km to the bottom of the final climb, Sky moved to the front of the peloton as Vasil Kiryienka set a torturous tempo. As soon as the road started to point upwards, riders started to drop off in large numbers and the group was now down to only around 60 riders.

Wellens emerges as lone leader

Up ahead, Rabon and later also Huzarski were unable to keep up with Teklehaimanot who was instead joined by as fast-riding Wellens. The Eritrean clinched to his wheel for a few kilometres but he had to let the young Belgian go with 9km still to go.

Back in the peloton, Movistar once again hit the front as Eros Capecchi and later Jose Herrada took over the chase, reducing the size of the front group even further. At the same time, the main group started to pick up most of the escapees and a short-lived attack by Egor Silin (Astana) did also not have much chance to succeed.

Valverde on the attack

With 7km to go, the group was about to catch Erviti who dangled a few meters ahead for a little while. Valverde decided to jump up to the wheel of his teammate who set a hard pace to help his captain build up an advantage. In the peloton, Peter Kennaugh was now doing the work in the group which was now consisting of less than 20 riders.

Erviti finished his work and left his captain in lone pursuit of the only two remaining escapees, Wellens and Busche. That also signaled the end for Kennaugh who now left the work in the group to Porte who was the final rider to support Froome.

With 5,2km to go, Busche joined Wellens while the yellow jersey group had now been whittled down to just 13 riders. Moments later Wellens dropped off and that was the start of the thrilling finale of the race.

Result:

1. Chris Froome 3.28.39

2. Alberto Contador +0.04

3. Matthew Busche

4. Alejandro Valverde +0.10

5. Michael Rogers +0.12

6. Daniel Moreno 

7. Rein Taaramae

8. Daniel Navarro +0.21

9. Richie Porte +0.24

10. Jakob Fugslang +0.29

General classification:

1. Chris Froome 16.08.44

2. Richie Porte +0.52

3. Rohan Dennis +0.54

4. Michael Rogers +1.37

5. Daniel Moreno +1.47

6. Daniel Navarro +1.49

7. Rein Taaramae +1.52

8. Michal Kwiatkowski +1.58

9. Leopold König +2.16

10. Jakob Fuglsang +2.20

Points classification:

1. Gianni Meersman 34

2. Chris Froome 31

3. Elia Viviani 21

4. David Veilleux 20

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen 20

Mountains classification:

1. Thomas Damuseau 65

2. David Veilleux 40

3. Ricardo Garcia 28

4. Chris Froome 26

5. Jean-Marc Bideau 24

Young riders' classification:

1. Rohan Dennis 16.09.38

2. Michal Kwiatkowski +1.04

3. Alexandre Geniez +2.47

4. Warren Barguil +4.39

5. Angel Madrazo +4.59

Teams classification:

1. Sky Procycling 48.32.11

2. Team Saxo-Tinkoff +2.03

3. Radioshack-Leopard +2.45

4. Cofidis +3.45

5. Astana Pro Team +4.20