Jakob Fulgsang claims first Dauphiné victory
June 9 th 2017 - 16:29
Six riders in the lead
161 riders started stage 6 at Parc des Oiseaux/Villars-les-Dombes. Non-starters: Max Richeze (Quick-Step Floors), Jonas Van Genechten (Cofidis), Jacopo Guarnieri (FDJ), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin), Borut Bozic and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida). After several skirmishes, six riders formed a breakaway at km 9: Oliver Naesen (AG2R-La Mondiale), Anthony Turgis (Cofidis), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale-Drapac), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) and Thierry Hupond (Delko Marseille Provence KTM).
Fabio Aru makes the best of Mont du Chat
A maximum time gap was recorded at km 81: 8.25, after which AG2R-La Mondiale decided to put the hammer down. BMC Racing Team took over from the French team as they tackled the ascent to the Mont du Chat. But Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was the first of the favorites to attack, eight kilometers before the summit. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) got a bigger gap later on while Naesen became the lone leader with 18km to go. The Dane prepared a counter attack by his team-mate Fabio Aru who crested the Mont du Chat alone in first position. At the top, Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) and Chris Froome (Sky) were timed 54 seconds before Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Valverde.
Chris Froome in the downhill
Like in the downhill of the col de Peyresourde in the 2016 Tour de France, Froome showed his skills in the descent. Fuglsang was first to come across to him. They reached the bottom of the climb with Porte and Aru in their slipstream. Fuglsang tried to profit from Astana to have two men in the leading group. He attacked under the flamme rouge of the last kilometer but realized quickly enough that Froome and Porte had reacted. Porte sprinted on the right side of the road and looked like going for the win but Fuglsang had kept enough energy to pass him at the eleventh hour. However, the Australian who won the time trial two days ago was in the best situation to take over from De Gendt in the lead of the overall ranking with an advantage of 39 seconds over Froome and 1.15 over Fuglsang.