Critérium du Dauphiné (st. 5)

Catalan climber from Movistar Team finishes 13th after bright performance in second of four mountain-top finishes in the Alps. Martin (UAD) wins stage five; Thomas (SKY) new GC leader.

A steady acceleration, without raising from his saddle, by a powerhouse on the climbs. Marc Soler (Movistar Team) was responsible for most of the final action through the Valmorel climb (HC), ending col of the short stage five in the 2018 Critérium du Dauphiné -130km starting at Grenoble-.

The attack by the Catalan youngster dissolved the pacemaking in the early stages of the climb by Bora and Mitchelton, leaving only about twelve riders in the front group and serving as launchpad for Daniel Martin’s (UAD) stage-winning counter attack. Behind the Irishman, Soler, always following his own pace, was able to keep up with a second echelon of GC contenders. Geraint Thomas (SKY) jumped across from that group to finish 2nd behind Martin, and become the new race leader at the expense of team-mate Gianni Moscon.

? – 3,7 km
Attaque de @solermarc93 !@solermarc93 attacks!#Dauphiné pic.twitter.com/UrS0a7gJEx

— Critérium du Dauphiné (@dauphine) June 8, 2018

Marc, supported until halfway through the ascent by Jaime Rosón, finished 13th, 26″ behind the day’s winner, and improves one place overall to be 9th, 2’10” back on Thomas and only one minute shy of the white jersey as top under-26 rider. Soler still has two tough mountain stages to make that deficit up, short ones yet witb lots of climbing, starting with Saturday’s 110km stage six to La Rosière (Cat-1), featuring four grueling ascents that recreate stage eleven of the 2018 Tour de France.