Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) produced an attacking ride to move into the lead of the Criterium du Dauphiné as Lieuwe Westra (Astana) took the stage win on the summit finish at Emossan.
The Spaniard attacked within the final two kilometres and quickly opened a 20-second advantage over the yellow jersey of Chris Froome (Team Sky), a gap which the Brit was unable to close in the tough finale.
Speaking after the stage, Contador was understandably pleased to have been able to distance Froome.
‘At 2km to go, I was close to my limit but I tried my luck with attacking. It's an incredible surprise that I managed to take the yellow jersey.
‘I'm happy with how my legs are getting better and better every day, but this is a preparation race. The most important for me is to be at 100% [for the start of the Tour de France] on 5th July’
Meanwhile Lieuwe Westra (Astana) made amends for his second place in yesterday’s stage as he reeled in the Katusha duo of Yuriy Trofimov and Egor Silin within the final 500m before accelerating clear to take an excellent stage win.
Another day and another large break in as a 14-man move went clear early in the stage. In the move were Julian Alaphilippe (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Lars Boom (Belkin), Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Daniel Schörn (NetApp-Endura), Egor Silin and Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha), Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar).
The break’s lead hovered at just under six minutes for much of the day as Alessandro De Marchi worked hard to take maximum points at the top of the Col du Corbier and Pas de Morgins to all but confirm victory in the mountains classification.
However the front group began to fragment on the penultimate climb of the day, the hors-categorie Col de la Forclaz as Trofimov, a stage winner earlier in the week, went on the attack, with Hesjedal, Gallopin, Westra, and Silin the only men able to mount a serious chase.
Trofimov led over the top of the Col de la Forclaz with a six-minute advantage over the Sky-led peloton, while Silin jumped clear of the rest of the chasers to join up with his teammate on the descent.
Back in the peloton and Froome was briefly under pressure as Vincenzo Nibali attacked the descent before Sky restored calm on the wide, well-surfaced Swiss roads. And it was the British team who remained on the front on the early ramps of the final climb up to Finhaut-Emosson, with five men in position to support Froome and begin to close the gap to Trofimov and Silin.
However the Katusha duo were clearly strong and combined well up much of the final climb, but were caught by a flying Westra within sight of the finish. After letting victory slip through his fingers yesterday the Astana rider was seeking to make amends, and accelerated past the two Russians to take a dramatic stage win.
Meanwhile the group of leaders were slowly being whittled down by the pace of Mikel Nieve, with Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), Adam Yates (Orica-Greenedge), and Leopold König (NetApp-Endura) among those going out the back door.
However the pace was not enough to put the pressure on Alberto Contador, and with 2km remaining the Spaniard went on the attack. Only 12 seconds separated the two men at the top of the general classification at the start of the day so there was little time for Froome to hesitate.
Under the flamme rouge, the Brit set off in pursuit, with only the Garmin duo of Talansky and Hesjedal able to follow as Vincenzo Nibali dropped back. The gap stabilised but Contador looked at ease, bouncing on the pedals to cross the line 20 seconds ahead of Froome to take the race lead by 8 seconds going into tomorrow’s final stage.