2021 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 6 Results & Recap
Stage 6 of the 2021 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
Valverde takes stage 6
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) won stage 6 of the Dauphiné in an uphill sprint to Le Sapey-en-Chartreuse, overtaking and denying the 2020 Giro d'Italia champion Tao Geoghegan Hart a victor right at the line. Patrick Konrad (Bora - Hansgrohe) finished third after 171km of a fast and furious stage that averaged over 50 kph at times.
"I'm very happy," Valverde said. "First of all, I want to thank the team enormously for all these days. They have done a great job since the beginning of the week, and in the final part of today, even more. Close to the finish line, López told me: 'Shall I start shooting, so that no one starts?' And I said, 'Come on, okay.' I have a special thanks to him, because he has worked incredibly well. The INEOS started very strong for the sprint, but when I saw that Geraint Thomas stopped, I could no longer doubt: I had to go out to cover that gap. I have tried to regulate, to keep him there, and when I have seen the finish line, I have already hit the finish line. A special triumph? Yes, the truth is that everything I can actually do now is special… being in front of the best, contesting these triumphs, everything is beautiful when you have done so much in this sport. The general? Well, we have Miguel Ángel and Enric, who have proven to be very good, and there are two days of super mountain ahead where either of them can be opting for the top .”
The overall has changed hands as well. Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) was dropped on the first major climb and now Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech) leads the race ahead of a mountain heavy weekend.
“For me, this is really special. Today was a really hard stage but we fought for the yellow jersey. I’m really happy to take the yellow jersey as that was the goal today. Today was hard for everybody, not just for me. I didn’t have a plan to attack, my plan was to follow and take the wheels of Movistar and Ineos. In the last kilometres, I was following Valverde’s wheel but I wasn’t able to stay with him,” said Lutsenko. "Day by day, I am feeling good but the most important thing before tomorrow is recovery and seeing how the lags are tomorrow on the climbs. I have worked a lot so far and tomorrow is another hard day. The climbs are longer but I will fight to keep the yellow jersey and we also have Ion Izagirre just behind me so we have good cards to play.”\n
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