Lieuwe Westra is preparing himself to play an important role for Vincenzo Nibali in the Tour de France. Today he tested his legs in the finale of the third stage of the Criterium du Dauåhiné and the strong Dutchman proved to be hard to catch.

Already early in the year Lieuwe Westra was picked out as one of the riders that was likely to play a key support role for Vincenzo Nibali in the Tour de France and all year the Dutchman has been building his condition for the great objective. This week he is fine-tuning his preparations at the Criteriumd du Dauphiné and today he proved that he is getting into some decent form.

After his teammate Andriy Grivko had been part of a late 8-rider break, Westra attacked 4km from the finish and managed to build a decent gap. Showing an impressive strength, he held off the peloton for 2km despite being on his own against the sprint teams and fighting against a fierce headwind.

“We caught the eight guys in the breakaway, and it was a good moment to attack," he said. "In the end the headwind was too strong, but if you don’t try, you get nothing."

The General Classification did not change for Vincenzo Nibali, Jakob Fuglsang or Tanel Kangert, who all sit in the Top-10 overall with five stages of hot, hard racing still to go.