Andrew Talansky of the US picked up the biggest victory of his career when he won the Criterium de Dauphine after an epic battle with Spanish double Tour de France winner Alberto Contador on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Garmin-Sharp rider from Miami came home fourth on the eighth and final stage behind the day’s winner, Spain’s Mikel Nieve of Sky Pro Cycling, but crucially 1 minute, 6 seconds ahead of Contador to snatch overall victory by just 27 seconds. British defending Tour de France champion Chris Froome of Sky struggled badly and was clearly not fit as he came home more than five minutes behind the leaders to relinquish the title he won last year.
Froome, who crashed on stage six and lost the race lead to Contador on Saturday, finished in 12th position overall.
Photo: EPA
Nieve, who made it three stage wins for Sky over the eight day race, said the Kenyan-born Froome had failed to recover from his nasty crash on Friday.
“It was very, very hard today, Chris still hadn’t recovered from his accident so I went for the stage win,” the Spaniard said. “He really suffered after the crash, and yesterday he still hadn’t recovered and today wasn’t better. I had an opportunity and went for it.”
The riders covered three category climbs, including a summit finish during the 131.5km run from Megeve to the ski resort of Courchevel, France.
Photo: EPA
Contador fought furiously to catch Talansky on the final climb and was within five seconds of regaining the virtual lead with less than 2km to go, but Talansky proved too strong and had just enough in the tank to hold off Contador by a meager 27 seconds.
Belgium’s Jurgen van den Broeck of Lotto-Belisol finished fifth on the stage, nine seconds behind Nieve, but enough for third place overall, just 35 seconds behind Talansky.
“You put your life into something and make sacrifices for days like this,” said Talansky, who broke down in tears when he realized he had won.
Photo: AFP
“Every bad moment, every crash, all the problems makes it all worth while for moments like this,” Talansky said. “It was a very hard start, but [Ryder] Hesjedal went to the front and worked so hard to sacrifice for me, and when we got in front we saw the opportunity and we had to try. It’s an incredible day. I’ve often been second, at Paris-Nice and the Tour of Romandie, but when you win, the feelings are completely different.”
When asked if he is now one of the favorites for the Tour de France, which begins in Leeds, England, on July 5 and runs until July 27, he played down his chances.
“No, I’m not a favorite, this is the Dauphine, the Tour de France is another race, but I’ll try,” he said. “My goal in the Tour is to do better than last year [10th]. If everything goes well, maybe top 10, even top five. I’m leaving tomorrow [Monday] to discover the time trial for the Tour.”
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