For the second day in a row, Jens Voigt made it into the right breakaway in the Criterium du Dauphiné but in the finale he didn't have the legs to go with Jan Bakelants and Lieuwe Westra. Nonetheless, he was pleased with his performance and admitted to be a little bit impressed by himself.

There are only so many times the legs comply. Jens Voigt was feeling the effects of yesterday’s stage where he bridged into the stage five breakaway on a very hard and hilly parcours. Today, desite his shrewdness in riding a break, his legs did not ‘shut up’ - they shut down.

“I have to say that I impressed myself today, because yesterday was a long and hard effort in the breakaway and a hard finish," he said. "I did not think that I would be in a break again, since we are down to five riders.  Bob [Jungels] is still trying to recover from his crash, and Haimar [Zubeldia] is concentrating on his overall classification, so we really only had Markel [Irizar], Popo [Popovych] and me to cover the breaks. 

"We shared the work really well; a few groups looked good with either Markel or Popo, but it always came back.  All the riders knew this was the last chance for a breakaway today. In the end it was me that happened to catch the breakaway.”

With Jens Voigt joining the 15 other riders of the day’s break, the peloton sat back and let Team Sky police the gap for the 178.5-kilometer stage six. There was no interest to catch the escapees back – the victory, again, was fought between the 16 leading men.

On the penultimate category four climb, Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Lieuwe Westra (Astana), and Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Belisol) attacked hard, immediately opening a gap the trio rode away from the remaining break. Bakelants and Westra would shake off Ligthart and go on to contest an exciting two-up sprint finish where Bakelants snaked his way inside Westra and the barriers in the final meters, precariously edging out the win. 

“It was a good group of 16 with good solid riders in there," he said. "I tried to be as smart as possible and every now and then I skipped a turn because I felt my legs from yesterday. There was lots of attacking in the end; it would fall apart in four or five pieces and then come back together. Bakelants and Westra were just a little bit stronger and they went away and there was nothing we could do against it. They had that 5% more than us.”

From the remaining breakaway Jens rounded the final corner first. It was a smart attempt to grab the third, and final podium spot, but he was passed just before the line by three others, and ulitimately finished 6th.

“I looked at the final this morning so I knew to take the last corner from the front," he said. "I was still leading in the last 50 meters. I tried to go for the podium. But I am missing a bit of freshness. I know I repeat this 10 thousand times, but I am also missing five or 10 years less lifetime.

"Of course I would have loved to be on the podium, but there were moments at the end where I was dropped and was 14th or 15th and everyone was ahead of me. I did what I could. You always need a little bit of luck, too. No regrets.”

The team plan for the third consecutive day was the same: be represented in the day’s breakaway. And Trek Factory Racing, despite being down to five riders, did just that.  Tomorrow the GC for the Critérium du Dauphiné will be on the line with a hors catégoriesummit finish. It will be a day for Haimar Zubeldia, who still rests in 7th place in the overall classification, as the team seeks to keep its top position overall.

“We asked the guys to go again into the breakaway," sports director Luc Meersman said. "We really wanted it to be [Markel] Irizar today, but as it happened it was again Jens. I think Jens did not really want to be there again – he was a little bit tired from yesterday.

"It was a strong breakaway with some strong guys. We had two short climbs at the end. I don’t think it was a risk, but I told Jens to wait, wait, wait and maybe the young guys attack and kill themselves and we can do something at the end. But okay, Bakelants, Westra and Ligthart went on the climb and they went so strong.  Jens did what he could. He was 6th and it was good for him. Tomorrow, and the final day, we will do everything to protect the 7th place of Haimar.”

For Jens Voigt, once again he left everything he had on the road. He may be one of the oldest riders in the peloton, but it has not slowed his effort or desire in his final year of competition - he may not have the legs of his prime, but his panache will never fade.

“I recently wrote this column where I said I was attacking in my very first Dauphiné 17 years ago, in 1998, and there is no reason why I should not attack in my last round," he said. "So I needed to live up to my words.”