Julian Alaphilippe powered to victory in the sixth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Friday, edging out Gregor Muehlberger in a photo finish after a long breakaway.
The 27-year-old claimed his 10th victory of the season, having also won the one-day Milan-San Remo, Fleche Wallonne and Strade Bianche.
“I don’t know yet if I’ll start the Tour in top condition or race for the polka dot jersey. We’ll see after the Dauphine,” said Alaphilippe.
Adam Yates retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Saturday’s queen stage of a race which has been overshadowed by Chris Froome’s horrific crash on Wednesday.
Alaphilippe and Muehlberger escaped from the peloton only 12 kilometres into the 228km ride from Saint-Vulbas to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, alongside Alessandro de Marchi.
De Marchi was dropped on the eighth and final climb of the day, about 10km from the finish, leaving Alaphilippe and Muehlberger to fight it out for the win, with the home favourite taking the spoils.
“It was a soft sprint after such a long and difficult race,” added Alaphilippe. “On the last climb, I tried two or three times to accelerate but I couldn’t tell the difference.”
The main group of overall contenders, including Yates, crossed the line six minutes and 10 seconds adrift.
Yates remains four seconds clear of Dylan Teuns in the overall standings, with Tejay Van Garderen just two seconds further behind.
Saturday’s seventh and penultimate stage ends with the punishing climb at Pipay, which lasts for 19km with an average gradient of 6.9 percent.
Critérium du Dauphiné 2019 – stage 6 results (Saint-Vulbas – Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne):
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 6:00:54 |
| 2 | Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | Alessandro De Marchi (CCC) | +22” |
| 4 | Wout Poels (Team Ineos) | +06’10” |
| 5 | Gorka Izagirre (Astana) | ,, |
| 6 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | ,, |
| 7 | Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 8 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 9 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | ,, |
| 10 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | ,, |
Critérium du Dauphiné 2019 – general classification after stage 6:
| 1 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 23:35:04 |
| 2 | Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) | +04” |
| 3 | Tejay Van Garderen (EF Education First) | +06” |
| 4 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +07” |
| 5 | Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) | +24” |
| 6 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +25” |
| 7 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +26” |
| 8 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | +30” |
| 9 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +40” |
| 10 | Wout Poels (Team Ineos) | ,, |
