Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) is known as one of the most formidable breakaway artists in the entire cycling peloton and today he once again underlined that position when he took the win in the sixth stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné. Having used his team to chase down an early breakaway, he instigated the day's main group on the toughest climb and went on to outsprint his final three companions at the line while Chris Froome (Sky) finished safely in the bunch to defend his lead.

Thomas Voeckler has had a difficult first part of the season. A crash in the Amstel Gold Race left with a broken collarbone just as he was about to take on his first season target, the Ardennes classics. He returned at the recent Tour of Belgium but a crash in stage 1 left him once again with injuries to take care of.

Today he proved that he has recovered sufficiently from those early woes when he did a fantastic effort to create the successful breakaway in today's 6th stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné. He survived the tough climbs along the course and finally emerged as the fastest of the four remaining riders.

When the peloton hit the hilly zone at the midpoint of the race, the day's early break appeared to have been formed after a hectic start during which the peloton covered no less than 50km. Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil), Assan Bazayev (Astana) and Bartosz Huzarski (Team NetApp-Endura) had finally escaped the peloton's clutches and built up a gap of around two minutes.

However, Voeckler had ambitions for today and so he asked his team to close down the move. On the day's major climb, the category 1 Col du Barioz, he attacked from the peloton to close the gap to Flecha who had dropped his companions.

More riders bridged the gap as Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana), Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) and Jose Herrada (Movistar) joined up with the leaders. The pace was too much for Flecha who dropped off while Tim Wellens was the next to catch the move while Sky chased hard behind.

Egor Silin (Astana) and Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) were the final riders to bridge the gap while Wellens struggled and had to drop off. A number of riders also struggled at the back of the peloton with Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Vasil Kiryenka (Sky) and two of the day's favourites, Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) all losing contact.

After the top of the climb, Bouhanni was one of several riders to get back on while the peloton took a short breather, always being led by the Sky riders David Lopez and Geraint Thomas. Ian Stannard also returned to the main group and took some turns on the front before he dropped off for good.

The gap now grew at a rapid pace and peaked at around 2.30 while Wellens managed to get back to his escape companions. The peloton climbed the category 2 Col des Ayes at a modest pace but as soon as they crested the summit, BMC rider Brent Bookwalter hit the front to up the pace to facilitate a win for his leader Thor Hushovd.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step joined the chase by putting Sylvain Chavanel on the front and the Frenchman's hard tempo on the day's final categorized climb saw a number of riders drop off, Bouhanni once again drifting off the back.

Up ahead, the breakaway knew that they had to react and severely upped the pace which once again forced Wellens to let his companions go. However, the Belgian fought his way back up on the descent while Bouhanni managed to do the same back in the peloton.

The gap was now coming down as Garmin alsp put Jack Bauer on the front to try to set up Michel Kreder or Koldo Fernande for the win. Meanwhile, Viviani was far behind in a small group led by 5 of his teammates.

The final 45km had no categorized climbs but was not flat either. A number of nasty hills punctuated the run-in to the finish and they had the potential to do some severe damage. They were not made any easier by the hard pace set by Chavanel and his teammates Pieter Serry and Tony Martin, all working hard for their sprinter Gianni Meersman.

With 30km to go, Herrada took a huge turn on the front on a small climb and that saw the group break up. Silin and Seeldrayers were in his wheel immediately while Voeckler effortlessly closed the gap. Geniez also caught back up after a long chase but when Voeckler upped the pace a little further down the road, the Frenchman had to give up, drifting back to De Gendt, Nieve and Wellens.

Martin was now doing all the work in the peloton as Chavanel and Serry had both dropped off and his pace was enough to trouble Hushovd, Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) and Bouhanni who never rejoined the peloton again. Martin brought the gap down to 1.10 and caught the four chasers before he dropped off with 20km to go.

It was now left to Michal Kwiatkowski to close the gap but despite the Pole's best efforts the gap grew back up to 1.25. For a number of kilometres, Thomas Rohregger (Radioshack) dangled a little ahead of the peloton but with 11km to go, he was brought back.

With 11km to go, Sky started to chase, putting Geraint Thomas on the front and he brought the gap back down to 1.10. With less than 10km to go, they were, however, unlikely to make the catch and instead the Welshman was content with a controlling rather than a chasing pace.

With 3km to go, the escapees knew that they would battle it out for the win. For the next two kilometres, they looked at each other until Silin made the first attack as they passed the flamme rouge. Voeckler chased it down and he also quickly responded to a counter-move by Seeldraeyers. Instead, the stage win was to be decided in the sprint.

As soon as Voeckler out the hammer down, the outcome was never in doubt and he put daylight between himself and 2nd-placed Herrada. The two Astana riders lost the battle with Seeldraeyers and Silin having to be content with 3rd and 4th.

46 seconds later, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) beat Meersman in the sprint for 5th while Chris Froome finished safely in the peloton. The Briton takes a 52 second lead over teammate Richie Porte into tomorrow's queen stage which will give a taste of what greets the riders in the 18th stage of the Tour de France when the peloton tackles the climbs to Alpe d'Huez and the Col de Sarenne early in the race. The Cote de Noyer inside the final 20km has the potential to do some serious damage before the final category 3 climb to the finish in Superdevoluy and we should be in for a real spectacle.

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

An aggressive start

The 143km stage was also thought to be an intermediate one with a flat opening part giving way for some tough climbs at the midpoint and a descent to the finish line in Grenoble and it was expected to be a tough battle between the sprinters and the escapees. Unsurprisingly, many riders wanted to be part of the early move, and attacks went thick and fast in the early part of the race.

The first to try his hand was Chavanel who quickly brought back. After more than 10km, the Frenchman was also part of the day's first promising move, having been joined by Rohregger, Jerome Coppel (Cofidis), Jan Barta (NetApp-Endura), Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Sebastien Duret (Bretagne) in his attack.

That move was, however, also unsuccessful and instead Flecha, Bazayev and Huzarski tried their hand. They were more successful, building up a gap of 2 minutes while a chase group consisting of Boasson Hagen and Arthur Vichot (FDJ) came to nothing.

It appeared as though the day's break had been created but Voeckler had missed the move, thus asking his team to close it down and setting him up for an ultimately successful attack.

Result:

1. Thomas Voeckler 3.24.13

2. Jose Herrada

3. Kevin Seeldraeyers

4. Egor Silin

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen +0.46

6. Gianni Meersman

7. Francesco Gavazzi

8. Wesley Sulzberger

9. Arnaud Gerard

10. Michal Kwiatkowski

General classification:

1. Chris Froome 19.33.43

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 44

2. Chris Froome 31

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen 26

4. Elia Viviani 21

5. David Veilleux 20

Mountains classification:

1. Thomas Damuseau 65

2. David Veilleux 40

3. Kevin Seeldraeyers 40

4. Ricardo Garcia 28

5. Chris Froome 26

Young riders' classification:

1. Rohan Dennis 19.34.37

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 58.47.08

2. Team Saxo-Tinkoff +2.03

3. Radioshack-Leopard +2.45

4. Astana Pro Team +2.48

5. Cofidis +3.45