Jakob Fuglsang stunned the pre-race favourites to win the Critérium du Dauphiné, leapfrogging Richie Porte on a thrilling final stage on Sunday, as the Tour de France champion Chris Froome appeared short of form down in fourth overall.
The Astana rider Fuglsang, 32, had started the day in third, 1min 15sec behind Porte, but attacked on the final climb to the Plateau de Solaison (11.3km at 9.2%) and held off the BMC rider to win the 115km stage from Albertville and beat the Australian by 10sec in the general classification.
Fuglsang said: “It’s incredible. The plan was to keep our position on GC but with [team-mate] Fabio [Aru] we attacked one after another and it went our way.” Fuglsang dropped Ireland’s Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) on the last climb and never looked back.
Porte, who had lost ground on the penultimate ascent, clawed his way back but he came up just short, leaving Fuglsang to celebrate his biggest victory.
Froome, who was the defending champion, dropped Porte on the penultimate climb but struggled on the final one and his former Team Sky team-mate rode away. The British three-times Tour de France champion ended fourth overall, 1min 33sec off the pace and one second behind Martin.
The Tour runner-up last year, Romain Bardet of France, ended up sixth, showing good form on the climbs after a disappointing time trial last week. Spain’s Alberto Contador, a two-times Tour champion, cracked on the final ascent and finished 11th overall.
The Tour de France starts on 1 July in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Crowds turned out in central London to watch Kasia Niewiadoma hold on to win the Women’s Tour of Britain after Jolien D’Hoore won the final stage.
The 22-year-old from Poland, riding for WM3 Pro Cycling, was leading overnight and finished safely in the front group to secure the green jersey.
The Belgian D’Hoore (Wiggle HIGH5) came home in front of Britain’s Hannah Barnes (Canyon//SRAM), who also finished third overall behind Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans) of Luxembourg.
Barnes, 24, who was born in Tunbridge Wells and lives in Girona, Spain, was crowned the Best British Rider for 2017. Her sister Alice Barnes, 21, finished sixth overall for the Drops team.
Final classification from Critérium du Dauphiné
1 Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) 29hr 05min 54sec 2 Richie Porte (BMC Racing) +10sec 3 Daniel Martin (Quick-Step) +1min 32sec 4 Chris Froome (Team Sky) +1:33 5 Fabio Aru (Astana) +1:37 6 Romain Bardet (AG2R) +2:04 7 Emanuel Buchmann (BORA) +2:32 8 Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates) +3:12 9 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +4:08 10 Rafael Valls (Lotto) +4:40
Stage eight results from Critérium du Dauphiné (Albertville–Plateau de Solaison, 115km)
1 Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) 3hr 26min 20sec 2 Daniel Martin (Quick-Step) +12sec 3 Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates) +27 4 Emanuel Buchmann (BORA) +44 5. Fabio Aru (Astana) +1min 01sec 6 Romain Bardet (AG2R) +1:02 7 Richie Porte (BMC Racing) +1:15 8 Chris Froome (Team Sky) +1:36 9 Rafael Valls (Lotto) +1:41 10 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +3:30
General classification after stage five of the Women’s Tour of Britain
1 Niewiadoma (WM3 Pro Cycling) 16hr 34min 53sec, 2 Majerus (Boels Dolmans) +1min18sec 3 H Barnes (Canyon//SRAM) +1min30sec 4 Kirchmann (Sunweb) +1min36sec 5 Van Dijk (Sunweb) +1min39sec 6 A Barnes (Drops) +1min47sec 7 Moolman Pasio (Cervelo Bigla) +1min 53sec 8 Ludwig (Cervelo Bigla) +1min59sec 9 King (Cylance) +2min00sec 10 Longo Borghini +2min01sec
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