Stage 7 Critérium du Dauphiné. – June 14, 2014
Spaniard Alberto Contador took the overall lead in the Dauphine today after challenging the leader Chris Froome near the finish. In the second to last stage, Contador now has 8 seconds over Froome, and could be the final winner of the 8-stage French race tomorrow.
Earlier in the stage, Russians Egor Silin and Yuriy Trofimov looked like they would bag a stage win for Katusha, but their hopes were dashed by Lieuwe Westra who may have been seeking revenge after losing a stage win against Jan Bakelants in Poisy.
Dutchman Westra prevailed in the queen stage at Finhaut-Emosson, taking the final win to the line.
But the most spectacular action of the day occurred behind him when Contador attacked with two kilometers to go to dethrone Froome and take the yellow jersey with one day to go into the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Westra on the move again from the start
After a very fast start from Ville-la-Grand where the mayor, Raymond Bardet, decorated up-and-coming French climber Romain Bardet, (of no relation), five riders broke away with Lieuwe Westra (Astana) among them.
Also part of the break was stage 4 winner Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha) who passed the first categorized climb of the day in first position.
After the côte des Gets, a chase group came across to the six leaders, Tony Gallopin (Lotto) having firstly bridged the gap himself, to make it a 14-man breakaway at the 53 km mark. That group was composed of Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Tony Gallopin (Lotto), Matthias Brändle (IAM), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Greg van Avermaet (BMC), Egor Silin and Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha), Julian Alaphilippe (OPQS), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin), Lars Boom (Belkin) and Daniel Schorn (NetApp).
Westra virtual leader after 100km of racing
It took more than fifty kilometers for Lieuwe Westra to move into the virtual lead of the Dauphiné. The Dutchman was 5.59 down from Chris Froome at the end of stage 6.
The breakaway reached an advantage of six minutes at 105 km. They increased their lead to 7.45 at 113 km until behind them in the peloton, Tinkoff-Saxo took over from Team Sky driving the chase through a head wind.
Westra emerges as a winner when Contador prevails over Froome
Trofimov then attacked 7 kilometers before the col de la Forclaz and once again 3 kilometers away from the summit: Gallopin, Westra, Silin and Hesjedal were the last four climbers able to follow him.
Trofimov was instructed by his team staff to wait for Silin in the downhill, and the duo from Katusha started climbing to Finhaut-Emosson.
At that point it looked like they would bag the stage victory but fatigue took its toll in the last kilometers and Westra had saved energy to overtake them in the last 200 metres.
At the same time, another battle was underway in the peloton as Alberto Contador attacked Chris Froome with 2 km to go. The motivated Spaniard and the injured Brit delivered a fabulous duel that resulted in a difference of eight seconds in favour of Contador on GC with one day to go.