Chris Froome (Sky) stamped his authority on the Criterium du Dauphiné by riding away from all of his rivals on the final climb up to the ski station in Valmorel. Having taken the overall lead from Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp), the Briton is now in a good position to win the race but claims that he still has more work to do before he is at 100% of his capacitites.

Yesterday, Chris Froome showed his Tour rivals that it would be naive for them to believe that they could beat him in the Tour time trials. Today he took away another good portion of their slim hopes of winning the Tour de France when he burst clear on the final climb to win the first mountain stage in this year's Criterium du Dauphiné.

The Briton had been safely tucked in behind his teammates Peter Kennaugh and Richie Porte whose hard work at the front of the peloton had reduced the main group to only 13 riders with 5km to go. When main rival Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) attacked with 1,4km to go, the Briton hesitated for a moment and stayed in the wheel of Porte but moments later he took things into his own hands and left everybody behind him.

Froome has done nothing to hide that he is at the Dauphiné to win but first and foremost the race is a test for the Tour de France. The Briton could not be more happy with the outcome of the time trial and the first mountain stage and he was especially happy to see that he is currently stronger in Contador who is expected to be his main rival come July.

“It’s definitely a good gauge for me to be able to test myself against someone like Alberto who has won multiple Grand Tours," he said." To be able to finish in front of someone like him definitely gives me a lot of confidence, especially three weeks out from the Tour de France."

The stage win had actually not been the objective for Froome who was only hoping to take over the lead from Rohan Dennis who led Froome by 5 seconds. However, he felt obliged to take the stage win to thank his teammates for their huge work throughout the stage when the opportunity arose.

“Yesterday was a big test in the time trial to see where the other guys were," he said. "I’m happy with the result in that stage and today was a different kind of test in the mountains. Coming away with a stage win wasn’t really the plan, but I’m really happy that I can reward my team-mates with a stage victory because they did a super job looking after me. Especially in the final, Pete Kennaugh and Richie Porte were fantastic."

"I think winning a stage was really for my team-mates who did a fantastic job to position me in the climb", he explained. "I didn’t think I’d catch the RadioShack rider (Matthew Busche, the sole survivor from the day's early breakaway who was only caught with less than 500m to go, ed.) up the road. I had to go for the stage win to say thank you even though I knew the yellow jersey was secured. When Contador attacked, I could have let him go, knowing that he’s no longer a threat on GC."

"My goal this morning was to take the yellow jersey from Rohan Dennis who was not very well known as a climber. I had to gain some time over him. But at the end, I felt it was necessary to go for the stage win also. It’s super! I couldn’t be in a better position. It’s really good to beat the other GC contenders: Rodriguez, Contador, Valverde… But I’m quite sure that Alberto is going to be ready for the Tour de France in three weeks."

Froome started the race as the sole leader of the team and has had time to get accustomed to role of team captain. He got his first taste in last year's Vuelta and this year he has had a dedicated team behind him in the Tour of Oman, the Tirreno-Adriatico, the Criterium International and the Tour de Romandie of which he has won three while he finished 2nd in the Italian race.

“It’s a position that I’ve been adjusting to this year," he said. "It still feels quite new to have a team of guys riding and sacrificing themselves for you. But so far this season the guys have done it throughout my race programme – starting in Oman, Tirreno-Adriatico, Criterium International, Romandie and the Dauphine. So naturally they must have some confidence in me. It’s a really good feeling and I feel privileged to be in this position."

Froome now leads teammate Porte by 52 seconds and appears to be on his way to winning his fourth stage race this season. However, he still feels that he can improve ahead of his big objective which remains the Tour de France.

“I’m hoping to improve my form before the Tour," he said. "I don’t feel that I’m in 100 per cent condition yet but I’m where I need to be at this stage.”

Team Sky had taken the responsibility for the chase at the bottom of the final climb. Vasil Kiryienka did the early pace-setting while Kennaugh and Porte took over closer to the top.

Sports director Nicolas Portal was impressed by the team effort and now hopes that the team can take another 1-2 finish at the race to repeat last year's performance where Bradley Wiggins and Michael Rogers stepped onto the top steps of the podium.

“It was a great performance today," he said. "The plan was to try and take the jersey on the stage and open out an advantage on the GC if possible. Everything worked perfectly."

“Pete was brilliant today and it was really nice to see him on this level and doing a long pull. It was a strong finish for Richie and Chris was unbelievable. That helped us take 1-2 on the GC ahead of Rohan Dennis. He also did a really good final climb and put up a great fight."

It is now Froome's race to lose but Portal knows that the two remaining mountain stages on Saturday and Sunday offer some difficult terrain.

“The gaps are quite big already but we need to keep going, control things as best we can and see how the next summit finishes play out," he said. "It’s a nice position to be in and it’s great for the confidence, especially a few weeks before the Tour. We know the likes of Chris and Richie are not hitting 100% yet so there is more to come.”

Tomorrow's stage is an easier one and is expected to finish in a sprint which could be something for Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen who won stage 3. Starting at 12.45, you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.