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Criterium du Dauphine 2010 Photos June 6 - June 13

Criterium du Dauphine Dashboard


Stage 0:  Evian-les-Bains, 6.8 km (TT)  Full Results and Report

Slovenia national TT champ, Janez Brajkovic of Radioshack, posted an early best time of 8:39 which would be good enough for 3rd on the day

Sirroti missed Tejay Van Garderen's 2nd place performance, but here's the Team HTC - Columbia rider during the U23 World Championships last fall

Sky's Geraint Thomas out on the road on his way to 4th (+0:10)

Meanwhile veterans like Chris Horner missed the top 10. Horner was 24th (+0:18) and

Garmin's David Millar was a disappointing 13th (+0:15)

The last man who could realistically beat Tejay Van Garderen was Alberto Contador

Contador, in the Spanish National TT kit, was first by 4 seconds to the top of the cat 4 climb at km 2.8

Contador is congratulated on his win by Bernard Hinault before stepping up to the podium

Contador wins the prologue by 2 seconds covering the 6.8 km course in 8:34 (47.6 km/h)

Alberto Contador won all the jerseys today, but says he won't defend the Yellow Jersey (nor the others, presumably)

Stage 1:  Evian-les-Bains - Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, 191 km  Full Results and Report


RadioShack getting ready for the picturesque start on the shores of Lake Geneva

The main break and several late breaks in the final kms failed. We had a 50+ man sprint, 191 km later, in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont.

Slovenian Grega Bole (Lampre) nips Slovakian Peter Velits (HTC-Columbia) on the false-flat finish

The 6th-year pro gets his first win of the year and his first "ProTour level win." Perfect timing leading up the Tour de France team selections.

Janez Brajkovic, in the foreground, put in a good dig on the final climb with 6 km to go, increased it on the descent, but was reeled in on the run to the finish. Alberto Contador (center), safely crossed in the same time

Time to get cleaned up...

... for the award ceremony. Your stage 1 winner, Slovenian Grega Bole of Lampre

Alberto Contador has been in excellent spirits since returning from his racing layoff last month

Says he's not going to defend the Yellow Jersey, but he looked focused and attentive today

Stage 2:  Annonay - Bourg-Saint-Andéol, 177 km  Full Results and Report


Sprint finish coming at you in Bourg-Saint-Andeol, Ardeche. The stage winner hasn't made his way to the front yet.

Saxo Bank's Juan José Haedo surfed up the left hand side (right from this angle)

And without getting out of his saddle, goes from buried with 75m to go to a victory salute with 10m to go

There is still a serious battle for second spread across the road

Saxo Bank's Juan José Haedo is your winner. Martin Remier (Cervelo) far left/ half off the screen, had the best bike throw for second.


Juan José Haedo celebrates his first win of the year and his first European win ever. That's yesterday's winner and today's 3rd place finisher, Grega Bole, looking at the camera

Another safe day in Yellow for Alberto Contador

Your stage 2 winner, Saxo Bank's Juan José Haedo

As mentioned, he's never been a winner in Europe before

Alberto Contador must be pretty confident going into a long TT and a bunch of mountain stages

Alberto Contador with his Yellow salute


Stage 3:  Monteux - Sorgues, 49 km (TT)  Full Results and Report


Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen set an early best time that held as the next 120 riders crossed the line. He finished 3rd (+0:43)

Rabobank's Denis Menchov rounding into form with a 5th place performance (+ 0:54). He was second to Boasson Hagen for a long time.

Meanwhile, the remaining riders were on the cat 3 climb, Cote de La Roque-sur-Pernes - 1.9 km at 6.8 %. This is Ag2R's Maxime Bouet.

Cofidis' Samuel Dumoulin receiving a hand from a good sized crowd

OmegaPharma - Lotto's Jurgen Van Den Broeck going over the top. He placed 18th.

Cervelo's Stephan Denifl climbing with big, ominous Mont-Ventoux looming in the background

Milram's Christian Knees posted the 8th fastest time today (+ 1:58)

Former France U23 ITT Champ Jerome Coppel was 27th today (+3:16)

Quick Step's Dario Cataldo crashed hard early in the stage and has torn shorts and some nasty road rash to show for it

Sky's Thomas Geraint in the tuck position on the climb

The Slovenian national TT champ, Janez Brajkovic (Team RadioShack) was the third last rider

He posted the fastest intermediate time on the climb

Tejay Van Garderen (Team HTC-Columbia)

Alberto Contador on his new TT bike

Up close with Alberto Contador

Last man over the top

David Millar (Garmin) on the flats near the finish. One of the favorites before today and he didn't disappoint. He placed 2nd (+ 0:26).

Quick Step's Dario Cataldo ending a rough day with his shorts barely intact

Sky's Thomas Geraint and Sky's new TT helmet design. He placed 7th (+1:56)

Janez Brajkovic (Team RadioShack) and his winning form

Janez Brajkovic won the 49 km ITT in a time of 1:01:51 (47.5 km/h)

Tejay Van Garderen (Team HTC-Columbia) was 4th (+ 0:53)

Alberto Contador struggled today

Contador was 6th today (+ 1:46) and lost his Yellow Jersey. He slipped to 4th overall.

He look uncomfortable on his new smaller bike

Sky's Thomas Geraint retains the Green Jersey

Your stage 3 ITT winner, Janez Brajkovic (Team RadioShack). His first win outside of his home country in many years.

His convincing win also gives him a healthy 36 second race lead over David Millar heading into the mountains

The first time he's worn a GC leader's jersey since the Tour de Georgia in 2007

Stage 4:  Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Risoul, 212 km  Full Results and Report


The finishing area at the Risoul ski resort in the French Alps. A prelude to a Tour de France finish in the near future?

Looking down to the valley from where the riders start the 12.8 km at 7 % (Category 1) climb

More surrounding scenery

Here comes the race

Nicolas Vogondy of Bbox Bouygues Telecom attacked inside 2 km to go

Alberto Contador attempting to drop the race leader Janez Brajkovic

Panoramic of the trailing riders

Nicolas Vogondy of Bbox Bouygues Telecom in the home stretch

The former French national champion soloing to the line

Nicolas Vogondy wins by 12 seconds in a time of 6:03:25 (35 km/h) for the 212 km stage

Especially happy to win since his career was in jeopardy early this season due to cardiac arrhythmia problems

The French were 1-2 today with Euskaltel - Euskadi's Romain Sicard crossing next for second

The best result to date for the 1st year pro

Janez Brajkovic not only didn't get dropped...

... he moved past Contador at the line to finish 3rd (+ 0:15)

With David Millar finishing more than a minute back, Janez Brajkovic extends his overall lead

Contador remains 1:41 behind Janez Brajkovic

Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) crosses 5th (+ 0:18)

Denis Menchov (Rabobank) put in a dig earlier on but sunk to 10th (+0:23) at the line

Your stage 4 mountain winner, Nicolas Vogondy (BBox Bouygues)

Janez Brajkovic looking good in Yellow

Stage 5:  Serre-Chevalier - Grenoble 143.5km  Full Results and Report


Daniel Navarro of Astana about to zip up going over the top of Chamrousse. He had a 50 second lead before starting the screaming descent down to Grenoble.

Janez Brajkovic looked good leading the GC contenders over the top of Chamrousse several minutes later

Spain's David Navarro (Astana) solos into Grenoble for his first pro win

2nd and 3rd went to Eros Capecchi (Footon-Servetto), right, and Thibault Pinot (Francaise des Jeux) +0:34

Dimitri Champion (Fra) of AG2R La Mondiale finished fourth (+ 1:39) just ahead of Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi and Christophe Moreau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne

Our stage winner took advantage of a truce by the GC contenders with the queen stage and L'Alpe d'Huez tomorrow

A loyal domestique, Daniel Navarro gets his first win as a six year professional at age 26

Janez Brajkovic continues to look good in Yellow

Wow... that KOM jersey really clashes with the Footon-Servetto kit. Our new KOM leader, Eros Capecchi.

Stage 6:  Crolles - Alpe-d'Huez, 152 km  Full Results and Report


Here comes the race up venerable Alpe d'Huez

After he depleted his Astana team, Alberto Contador put in five or six attacks on Janez Brajkovic in the second half of the climb attempting to shake the race leader. A few bike lengths back are Sylvester Szmyd and Jerome Coppel who would finish 3rd and 4th.

Chris Horner, Christophe Moreau and Sammy Sanchez finished over minute back in the latter top 10 spots

Riders switching it up further down the hill

Alpe d'Huez panoramic just before the old Huez village

Although he didn't look 100%, Alberto Contador is the deserving winner of this year's Dauphine queen stage

Race leader Janez Brajkovic focused on marking Contador the entire finishing climb. He crossed just behind Contador in the same time.

Alberto Contador's pistol gunshot victory salute follow through.

Despite appearances, Janez Brajkovic is looking very good Yellow

Stage 7:  Allevard-les-Bains - Sallanches, 148km  Full Results and Report


The winning break forming on the hilly circuit in Sallanches

Race leader Janez Brajkovic shadowed Alberto Contador to ensure there were no last minute heroics

Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen soloed the final of five 11 km laps for the win

Today's win signifies Boasson Hagen has recovered from an injury earlier this year and it should secure a Tour de France spot for the 23 year-old Norwegian

Left: Footon-Servetto's Arkaitz Duran Daroca led for awhile, but settled for 2nd (+ 0:27); Right: Katusha's Egor Silin crosses ahead of Christophe Le Mevel for 4th (+0:32) with the GC contenders in the blurry distance.

The GC podium was decided at this point and now we have a sprint for the Points Competition won by Alberto Contador, but Tejay Van Garderen won this sprint for 5th today. Race leader, Janez Brajkovic, sits up ready to celebrate his win.

On the same circuits in 1980, Bernard Hinault won his first and only World Title. Today, 30 years-old later, he welcomes Sky's talented 23 year-old to the podium in the same city.

2nd place Alberto Contador congratulates 22-year old American Tejay Van Garderen on his impressive 3rd place finish

Your 2010 GC podium: 2nd Alberto Contador (+1:41), 1st Janez Brajkovic and 3rd Tejay Van Garderen (+2:41). Brajkovic's win should guarantee him a spot on RadioShack Tour de France roster.