Critérium du Dauphiné

Prologue: Evian-les-Bains to Evian-les-Bains, 6.8km/4.2mi

By Cathy Mehl

With many of the top Tour de France contenders lining up to race the 62nd Critérium du Dauphiné (formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré), the opening Prologue on Sunday had all eyes turned to one of the races used as a tune-up for July’s Tour de France.  It was a quick 6.8km ride that started uphill around Lake Geneva for the first half before plunging to the finish line in Evian-les-Bains.  Team RadioShack’s Jani Brajkovic held the best time until near the end when Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Columbia) broke his time, only to be bested by Tour winner Alberto Contador for the stage victory.  Contador earned the first yellow leader’s jersey as well, followed by Van Garderen and Brajkovic to round out the General Classification.

The 175 starters represented 28 countries in this year’s race, and begun this year’s race under mild conditions with temperatures near 80F.  An early best time of 9:04 was put up by Team RadioShack’s Markel Irizar, but his time at the top of the leader board was short-lived and the times began to tumble.  Saur-Sojasun’s Laurent Mangel became the first rider under nine minutes with a time of 8.59.  Next came Christophe Riblon before Rémi Pauriol of Cofidis scored a new best time of  8.46, two-seconds ahead of Riblon. 

After more than an hour of racing, Jani set the time-to-beat next, stopping the clock at 8:39.  Brajkovic’s time held strong for more than an hour before the USA’s Van Garderen beat him by 3 seconds with a time of 8:36.  Several heavy hitters were still to ride, but only Spanish Time Trial champion Alberto Contador as the penultimate rider on course could topple the American rider.  Through the check point on the climb five seconds faster than Riblon’s best time, Contador powered through the second part of the course and never backed off, taking the win by two seconds.

Stage 1 is 191km from Evian-les-Bains to Saint-Laurent-du-Pont and should be one for the sprinters as the eight-day Critérium du Dauphiné starts rolling through France on Monday.

Beyond the Finish Line:  The town is home of Évian mineral water, which makes up the foundation of the economy together with the Casino d'Evian and the Evian Royal Resort, a holiday favorite.  Many of the inhabitants of Évian work in Lausanne and other Swiss cities nearby.

Top Ten Results

1.            CONTADOR Alberto        ASTANA               08' 34"   

2.            VAN GARDEREN Tejay   TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA                 08' 36"   00' 02"

3.            BRAJKOVIC Jani                TEAM RADIOSHACK        08' 39"   00' 05"

4.            THOMAS Geraint   TEAM SKY      08' 44"   00' 10"

5.            CATALDO Dario                   QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM      08' 46"   00' 12"

6.            PAURIOL Rémi  COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE      08' 46"   00' 12"

7.            MALORI Adriano   LAMPRE - FARNESE    08' 46"   00' 12"

8.            GRETSCH Patrick   TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA            08' 47"   00' 13"

9.            MARTENS Paul                  RABOBANK         08' 47"   00' 13"

10.          COPPEL Jérôme                SAUR-SOJASUN                08' 48"   00' 14

Team RadioShack Results

20.          HERMANS Ben                   08' 51"                  00' 17"

23.          ZUBELDIA Haimar    08' 52"           00' 18"

24.          HORNER Christopher   08' 52"     00' 18"

59.          IRIZAR Markel                   09' 04"  00' 30"

92.          PAULINHO Sergio   09' 11"            00' 37"

106.        VAITKUS Tomas                09' 13"  00' 39

143.        LEQUATRE Geoffroy       09' 22"  00' 48

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson