Romain Bardet wins Criterium du Dauphine stage five solo

Romain Bardet won stage five of the Criterium du Dauphine

France's Romain Bardet claimed a superb solo victory on the mountainous fifth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine but was denied the overall race lead by the United States' Tejay van Garderen.

Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), who finished sixth at last year's Tour de France, attacked out of a vastly reduced peloton at the top of the day's penultimate climb and took an advantage of 1min 25sec on to the final ascent to the summit finish in Pra-Loup after a skillful and daring descent.

The 24-year-old then held off counter-attacks from his rivals to beat runner-up Van Garderen (BMC Racing) by 36 seconds and third-placed Chris Froome (Team Sky) by 40 seconds.

Tejay van Garderen moved into the overall lead by finishing second on the day

However, Bardet had started the day one minute behind Van Garderen, who was level on time with previous leader and team-mate Rohan Dennis, so it was the American who moved into the yellow and blue jersey.

Benat Intxausti (Movistar), who finished the day 42 seconds down in fourth, has climbed to second overall, 18 seconds back, while Bardet is 20 seconds behind in third.

Froome launched the main counter-attack 2km out but faded in the final 500m and is now 41 seconds adrift in fifth overall, one place ahead of fellow Briton Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), who produced an outstanding performance to take fifth on the day.

Chris Froome had to settle for third place and is now fifth overall

Bardet said: "I love this descent. I know it very well but I thought that I would have some help. I had over a minute’s gap after the descent, so I knew I would be OK. I knew I could gain some time out there."

Van Garderen added: "It's a great satisfaction to be in the yellow-blue jersey now with all the big names of the Tour de France except from [Nairo] Quintana and [Alberto] Contador here. 

"There are three stages left, with 10 seconds to the winner each day. It's a key factor. It can make the difference. We like where we're sitting and we will do our best to defend it."

Froome's main pre-race favourite for overall victory, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), endured a difficult day. He had been right behind Froome on the final climb and looked comfortable but then cracked and finished 1min 59sec down on Bardet in 23rd place, which leaves him 1min 33sec back in 13th overall.

Vincenzo Nibali was dropped and is now out of contention

Nibali was not the only big-name victim of the final climb, which was category two and only 6.2km long, as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) were also both dropped and knocked out of contention for overall victory.

The win was a major morale boost for Bardet, who had not won for 15 months but will now look ahead with confidence to stage 17 of next month's Tour de France, which is an exact replica of the Dauphine's stage five route.

The eight-day Dauphine continues on Friday with a 183km mountain stage from Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Villard-de-Lans.

Stage five result

1 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, 4:31:22
2 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, +36secs
3 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +40
4 Benat Intxausti (Esp) Movistar, +42
5 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, +50
6 Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka, same time
7 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin, +55
8 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana, +57
9 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar, st
10 Matthias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling, st

General classification

1 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, 18:03:22
2 Benat Intxausti (Esp) Movistar, +18secs
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +20
4 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana, +32
5 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +41
6 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, +44
7 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin, +1:08
8 Dan Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin, +1:17
9 Matthias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling, +1:18
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky, +1:26