2018 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 6 Results & Recap
Stage 6 of the 2018 Critérium du Dauphiné is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Bilbao impresses with win on Stage 6
On a relatively short, yet mountain filled stage at the Criterium du Dauphine, Pello Bilbao (Astana Pro Team) rode to a solo win after spending the day in an early break, 21 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) who charged to the line clear of his rivals. Yesterday’s stage winner, Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) came across the line in third place another couple of seconds back.
“It’s really amazing,” Bilbao said after the stage. “Yesterday, I had a bad day. I paid for my efforts from the Giro. I was completely done, I had no energy left, but today I felt good legs. I wanted to try something for the team who believed in me for overall. The rhythm of the breakaway was much better for me. It went perfect in the last climb. I had a small gap but I had to stay ahead before the last five km. I knew it would be easier after that point. I managed to stay away. It’s unbelievable for me. It’s difficult to maintain a good condition after the Giro, especially after this very hard Giro but I still had the motivation and support to go for a stage win.”
Geraint Thomas and his Sky team played their cards right the entire day keeping the leader’s jersey safe, and even putting more time into his nearest competitors on the final climb after a late attack with less than a kilometer to go. Adam Yates (Michelton-Scott) moved up four places into second overall, 1:29 and Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) also shot up four to third, two minutes and one second back.
“Obviously the boys rode really well,” Thomas said. “At the start, we controlled that nicely. And Bora wanted to ride, so it was good for us. In the final climb, we had everything under control. [Adam] Yatesy and Orica [Mitchelton-Scott] put the hammer down a bit. It was hard going but we stuck well together. Tao [Geoghegan Hart] rode exceptionally well. Then the last k, I just wanted to try and close the gap as much as possible. I stayed quite steady on that last corner. I didn’t want to repeat the prologue. It’s been a really good day. These four days in the mountains are the hardest four days I would have raced I think in a one-week stage race. It’s a super hard climbing stage race, even harder on the weekend now. I’ll enjoy tomorrow, or I’ll try to enjoy it in the jersey and defend it but it’s super hard. It’s a big test. Anything can happen. So far so good.”
Thomas’ teammate, Gianni Moscon started the day in the best young rider jersey, but lost it after he cracked on the final climb to La Rosiere. The white jersey is now worn by Marc Soler (Movistar), who has a slight lead ahead of Pierre Roger Latour (AG2R-La Mondiale) – just nine seconds.
“We tried something in the finale,” Soler said. “I felt good and I could take advantage of the help of my team-mate Hector Carretero. We didn’t win but we had to try. Tomorrow, it’ll certainly be a difficult and very fast day. I hope to finish the Dauphiné with the white jersey.”
Bilbao withstood his breakaway companions’ attacks on the final climb to Rosiere, dropping them one by one until he was alone with seven kilometres to go. Behind, the GC contenders attacked each other, but nothing stuck until Thomas exploded out of the reduced bunch to ass a few more seconds to his lead.\nTomorrow’s 136 kilometre stage features five KOMS, four of which are category one climbs, fnishing on Mont-Blanc.
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