Cycling: The seventh stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné was again dominated by breakaways. Once again, Team Katusha proved to be the measure of all things. Alright, almost.
A leading group of 160 broke away from the field early on on the 14-kilometer stage from Ville-la-Grand to Finhaut-Emosson. Before the difficult final, in which there were two climbs of the highest category, the group gained a maximum lead of 7:45 minutes over the field led by Sky.
There were several drivers in the group who had already been active during the week. Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Yuri Trofimov (Katusha), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Daniel Schorn (NetApp-Endura), Greg van Avermaet (BMC) and Lars Boom (Belkin) all had each other made the stage win.
However, on the penultimate climb, the Col de la Forclaz, it was Trofimov who got his competitors into trouble. Only Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol), Hesjedal, Westra and his teammate Egor Silin were able to follow his attack.
But Trofimov was not content with that. A few kilometers before the Forclaz pass he attacked again. This time it was only Silin who clung to his heels.
Together, the Katusha duo increased the lead over the group around overall leader Chris Froome (Sky) to over six minutes in the downhill. However, on the ascent to Finhaut-Emosson, it began to melt continuously.
The reason for this was the pace set by Sky. Froome, who fell in yesterday's final, wanted to put his opponents under pressure. More and more drivers had to pay tribute to the pace, including Brit Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), who won the Tour of Turkey this year.
With two kilometers to go, Froome's helpers had halved the gap to the escapees to three minutes. But neither Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) nor Wilco Keldermann (Belkin) attacked. The Spaniard's attack came a few hundred meters later. He quickly established a solid lead over Froome, behind whom Kelderman was struggling. Froome, however, stayed true to his pace. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) followed on his rear wheel.
Going into the final kilometer Contador had an 18 second lead over Froome, who was now chasing with Hesjedal and Talansky at the rear. Too late, as it turned out. Contador ended up fourth, taking the lead from Froome as well. The Briton, who ended up sixth behind Talansky and Hesjedal, is now eight seconds behind the Spaniard.
At the front, Trofimov and Silin were unimpressed by all of this. Stoically, they went their own pace. And let Westra surprise them. The Dutchman, who had just missed out on winning the stage twice, fought his way back up to the two Russians in the last kilometer. At the finish Westra was standing KO However, he was able to look forward to a truly great victory. With 150 meters to go, he sent Silin and shortly afterwards Trofimov out of the game.