Vogondy climbs to stage win in Risoul

Image 1 of 27

Nicolas Vogondy of Bbox Bouygues Telecom delivered a win for France today on the Critérium du Dauphiné's first day in the mountains. The former French national champion, whose career was in jeopardy early this season due to cardiac arrhythmia problems, attacked an elite selection of riders 1.5km from the mountaintop finish in Risoul and soloed to victory 12 seconds ahead of Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and 15 seconds up on race leader Janez Brajkovic (Team RadioShack).

Alberto Contador (Astana) finished fourth in the same time as Brajkovic while Estonian national champion Reine Taaramae (Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne) followed three seconds later for fifth place.

"The more we rode, the better I felt," said Vogondy. "At 3km from the finish, [directeur sportif] Didier Rous said to try my luck if I have a bit of strength and to not regret anything. I attacked sharply and it worked. I really enjoyed the final metres.

"I proved today that I am not finished on the bike, I'm still a cyclist. I also want to thank Jean-Rene Bernaudeau for having recruited and trusted me early in the season."

Brajkovic remains in the yellow jersey and gained some breathing room on general classification. Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Columbia) lost time but retained second place, 1:15 behind the Slovenian, while Contador lies in third, 1:41 back. David Millar (Garmin-Transitions), who started the day second on GC only 36 seconds down, fell to fourth overall at 1:56 after being dropped from the lead group on the upper slopes of the finishing ascent.

At 210km, the Critérium du Dauphiné's fourth stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Risoul was the longest of the race, but that didn't stop a pair of intrepid riders from breaking away early. Danny Pate (Garmin-Transitions) and Stephan Denifl (Cervélo TestTeam) escaped after 30km and soon built a lead of nearly nine minutes.

Neither rider posed a general classification threat and the peloton was content to bide their time knowing the day's only classified climb remained at the stage's conclusion, the 12.4km, category 1 ascent to the finish in Risoul.

Pate and Denifl were still off the front when they reached the base of the finishing climb, but their lead had been reduced to 3:35 with Rabobank putting in a strong effort approaching the climb for team leader Denis Menchov.

Pate cracked with 11.1km remaining, but the 22-year-old Denifl continued to knock out a steady tempo in the hope of earning the biggest victory of the young Austrian's career.

Several riders surged from the peloton in pursuit of Denifl, including Branislau Samoilau (Quick Step), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Artem Ovechkin (Katusha) and Sylvain Calzati (Sky), but the decisive move came with 3.6km remaining as Denis Menchov (Rabobank) put in a serious attack.

The Russian was immediately joined by Oscar Pujol (Cervélo TestTeam) while Astana led the pursuit and drew out an elite selection of riders from an already depleted peloton.

With only 2.4km remaining Denifl's brave effort was neutralised after spending nearly 178km off the front. The Austrian was first caught by Menchov, Pujol and Ovechkin and then soon after by a small group led by race leader Janez Brajkovic (Team RadioShack) and Alberto Contador (Astana). Notable absences in the elite selection included the riders who started the day second and third on general classification, David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) and Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Columbia), respectively.

While the general classification contenders in this lead group looked around to assess the situation, France's Nicolas Vogondy (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) took advantage of the momentary lull to attack with 1.5km remaining. Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi), the U23 world road race champion, was the first to react, followed by Contador.

Vogondy, however, continued his inspired ride to the summit finish and the 32-year-old Frenchman earned his first victory of the season in spectacular fashion. Sicard finished alone in second, while Brajkovic, who had bridged to Contador, bested the Spaniard for third.

Full Results