Three-day mountain battle arrives for Roche, Martin at Dauphiné
Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb) claims today's stage. But with three savage days to come the climbers will now dominate.
The sprinters had their day again on today’s stage 5 at Critérium du Dauphiné, with Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb) upstaging the bigger names.
However, while the general classification remained unchanged because of the bunch sprint finish into Macon after 175.5km, tomorrow will be a different ball game.
Ireland’s Dan Martin (QuickStep) and Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) are set for a big day as the race tackles the hors categorie Mont du Chat close to the finish.
It comes near the end of the 145.5km parcours from Parc des Oiseaux to Villars-les-Dombes.
The riders will crest the 1,504m ascent and then plummet down the other side for the finish 15km down the road.
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Save for a very short flat section just before the finish, the stage is all downhill from the top of the final climb. It means fireworks are expected on the mountain.
And if Dan Martin wants to repeat his podium finish of last year, or even get close to it, he must step up.
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Roche will be riding for BMC team leader Richie Porte who is 2nd overall after winning yesterday’s TT.
The Australian trails Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) by just 27 seconds.
Barring major surprise, Porte should tomorrow take the yellow jersey form de Gendt, who has held it since winning stage 1.
However, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is 3rd overall at 51 seconds. Martin is 18th overall at 1:45.
Roche went quicker than Martin in the TT and he is 15th overall, just 1:31 down on the race leader.
Tomorrow’s stage is followed by the summit finish on Alpe d’Huez on Saturday and another summit finish on Sunday’s savage 115km stage to Plateau de Solaison.
Today Bauhaus claimed victory from Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) after the early escape had been recaptured.
It contained Julien El Fares (Delko Marseille Provence KTM), Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo).
While their efforts to stay clear and fight for the stage win came to nothing, Bouwman was rewarded for his aggression in recent days by taking the lead in the climbers’ classification from de Gendt.
Stage 5: La Tour-de-Salvagny to Macon (175.5km)
1 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 4:04:32
2 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ
3 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie
4 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
5 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
6 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
7 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
9 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
10 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
11 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
12 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
13 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
14 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
15 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
38 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
61 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors
General Classification
1 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 17:10:25
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:27
3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:51
4 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:55
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:02
6 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:04
7 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:12
8 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:15
9 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:17
10 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:22
11 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:24
12 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:27
13 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:01:30
14 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
15 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:01:31
16 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data 0:01:37
17 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:45
19 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
20 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:46
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