Courchevel, 15th of June – 2014
The 8th and 131 kilometer long final stage of Dauphiné Libéré was not your usual final parade of a last stage. It was the crucial moment of truth for Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador and Chris Froome when they took on the final slopes to Courchevel.
Before the uphill finish, the field exploded several times as everyone wanted to have a piece of the cake. The escapees wanted their way and Froome clearly wanted to isolate the leading rider, Alberto Contador, in which they succeeded before entering the final climb. The Tinkoff-Saxo teammates worked hard in the peloton to bridge the gap to the Contador/Froome group but without effect. In the group ahead of Contador, Andrew Talansky (Garmin Sharp) and companions had built up a lead of more than 1.30 minutes with 50 kilometers to go, which meant that Alberto had to rely on Team Sky closing the gap.
With 25 kilometers to go, the attacks from Team Sky, Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) fell relentlessly on Alberto who singlehandedly had to fight them off. As Nibali had gone and brought two teammates with him, Alberto Contador leaped away from Froome and tried to bridge the gap to the Italian rider while Froome was supported and driven onwards by Riche Porte and David Lopez.
But Albert time trialed his way up the road chasing Talansky who virtually was in the leader’s jersey and it was now a question of Alberto vs. Talansky as Froome was distanced by every meter. With 5 kilometers to go, Talansky had a gap of minute and was only 39 seconds behind in the GC while Alberto was absolutely punishing himself to close that gap.
Mikel Nieve (Sky) launched the crucial attack from the front group with 3 kilometers to go and quickly established a gap to win the stage while Alberto passed the Astana-riders one by one and dropped instantly. But it wasn’t enough. Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) took the overall win after a tactically gutsy early move while Alberto Contador demonstrated a display of pure power and determination putting Tour de France rival, Chris Froome behind.
Alberto finished tenth today and second overall – 27 seconds behind Talansky.
“It was an exciting final stage for sure but of course, we would have rather wanted it to be safe. Unfortunately, Alberto was forced to chase on his own and he did an amazing job but had to settle with second place overall at the end of the day. On the positive side, Alberto demonstrated that the form is where it’s supposed to be at this point and he’ll be ready for the Tour de France. Andrew Talansky rode a phenomenally good stage and he earned the win today,” said DS, Philippe Mauduit.
