Blues show will against adversity
12 June 2014

Critérium du Dauphiné (st. 5)

Visconti, Sanz show courage en route to exciting finale in La Mure, with attacks by Contador (TCS) and Kelderman (BEL). Gutiérrez crashes earlier in the stage

For the third day on a row, one of the Movistar Team riders crashed in this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné. Iván Gutiérrez was affected by a pile-up at the 14th kilometer of 189 to be covered on Thursday’s stage five, from Sisteron to La Mure, which caused abandons by Pineau (IAM) and Roulston (TFR). Hurt and a bit dizzy due to the high speed of the fall, the road captain of the telephone squad was still able to complete the stage in time.

Into the final climbs, Giovanni Visconti -with a short attack at the top of the col de la Morte (Cat-2)- and Enrique Sanz -launching himself into a escape on the downhill, alongside Paulinho (TCS)- tried to keep the Blue jersey up-front, as John Gadret, always into a very small bunch, kept the wheel of the SKY train as Contador (TCS) -into the Col de Laffrey (Cat-2)- and Kelderman (BEL) -at the final meters- tried to take yellow jersey Froome (SKY) out of balance. The Kenyan-born Brit stays in the lead before stage six on Friday, predictably the most calm of what’s left, over 179km between Grenoble and Poisy.