Critérium du Dauphiné

Stage 5: Serre-Chevalier to Grenoble, 143.5km/89mi

By Cathy Mehl

With tomorrow’s stage heading to L’Alpe d’Huez the overall contenders were not interested in making any bold statements in stage five and opted instead to ride conservatively and save the fireworks for Saturday’s big mountain stage. Team RadioShack’s Jani Brajkovic collected his third yellow jersey and continues to hold 1:15 to Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Columbia) and 1:41 to Alberto Contador (Astana). "I felt pretty good today," said Jani after the race.  "For tomorrow I'm going to try to stay with the best and keep the jersey of course!  We'll see.  Let's hope for the best!"  It's a new role for 26-year old Brajkovic and he's riding with confidence and the full support of Team RadioShack.

It was a special stage win for Astana’s Daniel Navarro quite simply because it was his first.  A professional since 2005, Navarro’s role in the peloton is generally to ride for someone else, but today he was given the green light to ride for himself and he quickly set about chalking up a big win for himself.  Part of an earlier seven rider break, Navarro patiently waited to attack near the top of the final climb to Chamrousse.  The strong Spaniard was chased by Eros Capecchi (Footon_Servetto) and Thibaut (FdJ) but Navarro’s descending skills served him well and the chasing duo was never closer than 34-seconds as they dropped into Grenoble.

Team RadioShack rode at the front to protect the race lead for Jani, keeping him tucked in behind and sheltering him from the elements.  Near the top of Chamrousse Jani slipped in behind the Astana riders, some of them former teammates last year.  At the top when Contador grabbed newspaper to stuff in his jersey for the breezy descent, Jani was handed some too, a clear sign of respect for the  yellow jersey.  Teammates Chris Horner and Sergio Paulinho led the way down for their team leader, ensuring him another strong day in defense of the leader’s jersey.

Two stages remain in the 62nd Critérium du Dauphiné with Saturday’s stage a  full day of climbing.  The profile has two categorized climbs in the first 50km before heading up the HC climb of Col du Glandon at 1924m/6311ft.  Then the peloton heads up the 21 switchbacks of L’Alpe d’Huez for a mountaintop finish at 1850m/6068ft.  Some riders will be going for the win, others will be riding defensively and still others will be hanging on for dear life.   Whatever the motivation, L’Alpe never disappoints and stage six promises to delight cycling fans with epic racing.

Beyond the Finish Line: In the Middle Ages, the Princes of Dauphiné held court in Grenoble until the province was annexed by France in the fourteenth century.  The city is also famous for the Journée des Tuiles, a local uprising in 1788 which is believed to be the first act of the French Revolution.

Top Ten Results

1              Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana          3:26:16                   

2              Eros Capecchi (Ita) Footon-Servetto        0:00:34  

3              Thibault Pinot (Fra) Française Des Jeux                  

4              Dimitri Champion (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale            0:01:39  

5              Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi                            

6              Christophe Moreau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne                            

7              Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale             0:02:40  

8              Pierre Rolland (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom                       

9              Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                           

10            Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

Team RadioShack Results

26           Jani Brajkovic (Slo) 0:03:04

48           Christopher Horner (USA)

75           Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) 0:03:28     

133         Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) 0:18:33

135         Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)

141         Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa)

152         Ben Hermans (Bel)

General Classification after Stage 5

1              Jani Brajkovic (Slo) Team Radioshack       19:55:04                

2              Tejay Van Garderen (USA) Team HTC - Columbia              0:01:15  

3              Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana                 0:01:41  

4              David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions   0:01:56  

5              Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom                 0:02:43  

6              Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank               0:02:55  

7              Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale           0:03:05  

8              Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto          0:03:06  

9              Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram         0:03:10  

10            Reine Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne                0:03:28

Team RadioShack on General Classification

23           Christopher Horner (USA)   0:04:44         

94           Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por)     0:25:13 

129         Ben Hermans (Bel)   0:36:28 

138         Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)   0:41:10

151         Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)   0:43:57      

159         Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) 0:50:28