Young Australian rider Rohan Dennis will begin Stage 5 of the 2013 Criterium du Dauphine in yellow after last night’ second-placed finish. We’ll have live updates from 9.00pm AEST.
Last saw night saw Tony Martin blitz the field in ITT but it was the performance of young Dennis that would have turned Australian heads.
The Garmin-Sharp neo-pro is in the leader’s jersey after he came finished second on the stage, emulating Luke Durbridge who pulled on the yellow fleece during last year’s edition.
Dennis could lose his lead tonight with the first summit finish of the Dauphiné this year.
Team Sky’s Chris Froome is sitting just five seconds back so it will take a mighty effort by the Garmin team to reel in Froome if he skips away.
Dennis may shift his focus to the white jersey classification and let Team Sky worry about keeping Froome safe in the lead.
One casualty from the ITT was Alberto Contador, who was passed by Richie Porte and ended the day way down in 61st position.
As he now sits 34th in the general classification, El Pistolero may be given the chance to go for a stage victory but his hopes of the overall are dashed.
Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez, as expected, also finished some way off the pace so they could be eyeing off the stage as a chance to recoup some of that lost time.
The stage is rather short at 139km but it’s the final climb of 12.7kms where the action will happen.
The climb to the ski resort of Valmoral has an average gradient of 7 percent but there is a slight respite with a plateau of sorts before a final kilometre at 6.5 percent.
A break looks likely but with some of the pre-race favourites not quite where they want to be, perhaps the Spanish triumvirate could replicate their attacks on Froome at the Vuelta a España and put his time under some real pressure.
Join us from 9.00pm AEST as we bring you all the fireworks and panache from Stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Watch out for the morning's analysis of the stage and join us for the final three stages of the race. Night all!
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Thanks for joining us for tonight's stage. There wasn't any great GC attack but when Contador went in the final km Froome waited before catching the Spaniard then leaving him in his wake as he rode away for another stage win and looks to have set up overall victory as well. Chapeau Froomey!
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
After Froome takes the win this is the new GC 1 Christopher Froome (Sky) 16:08:44 2 Richie Porte (Sky) 0:52 3 Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) 0:54 4 Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff) 1:37 5 Daniel Moreno (Katusha) 1:47 6 Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) 1:49 7 Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) 1:52 8 Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 1:58 9 Leopold Konig (NetApp-Endura) 2:16 10 Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) 2:20
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
So the Top Ten today was 1-Chris Froome (Sky) 3:28:39 2-Matthew Busche (RadioShack) +4 3-Alberto Contador (Saxobank) +4 4-Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +10 5-Micheal Rogers (Saxobank) +12 6-Dani Moreno (Cofidis) +12 7-Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) +12 8-Dani Navarro (Katusha) +21 9-Richie Porte (Sky) +24 10-Jakob Fugslang (Astana) +29
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Froome is giving an interview in French now
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Rolland is only coming in now 4:40 down on Froome, not a good sign
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
That is Froome's fifth stage win in 2013 and so far his record is, stage win equals overall victory except for Tirreno–Adriatico
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
With the win, Froome also managed to take an extra 4 seconds with that final burst.
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Froome was slow to react but he caught Contador and left him and Busche as he crossed the line alone and looking very happy. Stage win and race lead now but more importantly, that's two consecutive stages where Froome has outdone the Spaniard
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Busche is caught
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Froome now leading Contador in the final few hundred meters and Busche will just fall short of the win
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Contador has seen Busche but Froome has also gone as well
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
No reaction from Froome yet
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Contador has launched an attack
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
With Dennis gone, Froome may just ride at tempo to the line now. He has a nice advantage over everyone else so no real need to attack them but to show his form, maybe he wants to hold his cards close to his chest
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Only 22s seconds between Busche and the Froome group
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Its just loss minimization now for young Australian, its going to be about the white jersey now. For Sky they look good for yellow in just 2.2kms
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
2.6km to go and Dennis is GONE
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
Rogers is helping Contador along and the Cofidis duo are just off them while Tour of Cali stage winner Leopold Konig is also there
Zeb Woodpower
Roar Guru
With Wellens being reeled in, its only two riders ahead of the Dennis group that is being driven by Porte while Froome is checking on the Garmin rider