Highlights
Report
The Movistar Team got back to winning ways, in a big, pre-Tour event like the Critérium du Dauphiné, with the talent of his biggest reference for two decades, Alejandro Valverde, following a great collective exhibition on the final stretch of the 163km stage six, from Loriol-sur-Drôme to the Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse, on the first of three Alpine routes in this year’s French race.
In a day covered at a whopping 43kph average, despite the last four categorized climbs -riders finished more than half an hour ahead of schedule-, the Movistar Team saved all of its power for the decisive ‘cols’ of Porte (Cat-2) and La Frette (Cat-3), where, after nice protective job from Arcas, Rojas and Erviti, Carlos Verona picked up the pace. The Spaniard strung out the field, leaving only the favourites at the front and neutralising the early break -with Lawson Craddock (EFN) as final ‘survivor’-, while at the final ascent to the finish, Miguel Ángel López continued the work to prevent any attacks and lead ‘Bala’ out into the sprint.
Valverde, showing his class and power he’s always displayed over his career, came back to the wheel of Tao Geoghegan Hart (IGD) after his late attack and claimed his 129th victory as a pro, second this year, to increase the Blues’ account to 18 -eighth for the men’s team-… in barely two months, the Abarca Sports organisation having only claimed its first success of the year in March 31st and opening the men’s tally in Navarra – with Alejandro, indeed.
Results
Stage
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | 3:52:53 |
| 2 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | |
| 3 | Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
| 4 | Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
| 5 | Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team |
General Classification
| 1 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech | 20:52:16 |
| 2 | Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech | 0:00:08 |
| 3 | Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:00:12 |
| 4 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:00:13 |
| 5 | Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM |
Points
| 1 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious | 91 |
| 2 | Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep | 58 |
| 3 | Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech | 58 |
Mountains
| 1 | Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal | 21 |
| 2 | Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education-Nippo | 13 |
| 3 | Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 12 |
Young Riders
| 1 | Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM | 20:52:29 |
| 2 | Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team | 0:00:37 |
| 3 | David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 0:00:46 |
