Chris Froome and Richie Porte took two of the top four positions – second and fourth respectively – on the mountainous final stage (155.5km, Sisteron to Risoul) at the Criterium du Dauphine yesterday (Sunday, June 9). Even more significantly the placing secured Froome the overall win of the week-long stage race, emulating Sir Bradley Wiggins, who triumphed in 2011 and 2012; Porte took second place just 58seconds adrift of his teammate with Katusha’s Daniel Moreno on +2:12 over Froome’s total time of 29hr 28’46”.
Speaking after yesterday’s stage Froome said, ‘This win is a massive achievement for me. I was using the Dauphine as build up to the Tour de France, but to have come away with the victory here, I couldn’t have asked for any more, and to have my best friend in second place is the perfect scenario. It would have been great to win the stage as well but we have already won two of those this week and it just proved impossible to reel in De Marchi in the end.’
Nicolas Portal, Team Sky Sports Director, added, ‘It was nice to finish with such a fantastic performance. The team were super strong and then Froomey and Richie rounded it off in style. Those two have ticked off every goal they’ve set this season, raced hard, and enjoyed a lot of success. That breeds massive confidence within the rest of team because they know their efforts won’t be wasted and that Richie and Froomey can deliver the results.’
Froome is now clearly one to watch at the Tour de France which begins on June 29 in Corsica.
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