Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) cemented his control of the Criterium du Dauphine after finishing second on Saturday’s sixth and penultimate stage won by Pello Bilbao (Astana).
Bilbao made his move late on during the gruelling stage that is almost the same as next month’s Tour de France stage 11, with four major climbs and a summit finish at la Rosiere.
Thomas came in second after launching a late attack of his own, managing to put some further valuable seconds between himself and his rivals for the leader’s yellow and blue jersey.
“I didn’t want to get carried away. It’s easy to underestimate how far to go,” he said of his attack. “I didn’t want to lose time. It’s obviously a big day as well tomorrow (Sunday). I try to do just the minimum and at the end, I went for it to see what happens.
“I managed to get a few more bonus seconds, which is good.”
Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) is second in the overall standings, 1min 29sec behind Thomas, with Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) jumping up to third from seventh overnight, at 2min 01sec.
Sunday’s seventh and final stage ends in the ski resort of Le Bettex after five climbs.
Criterium du Dauphine 2018 – stage 6 results (Frontenex – La Rosière Espace San Bernardo):
| 1 | Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana | 3:34:11 |
| 2 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | +21” |
| 3 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | +23” |
| 4 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 5 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +26” |
| 6 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +01’02” |
| 7 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +01’20” |
| 8 | Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale) | +01’40” |
| 9 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) | +01’45” |
| 10 | Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
General classification after stage 6:
| 1 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | 20:51:19 |
| 2 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +01’29” |
| 3 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | +02’01” |
| 4 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | +02’30” |
| 5 | Damiano Caruso (BMC) | +02’39” |
| 6 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +03’10” |
| 7 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +03’29” |
| 8 | Marc Soler (Movistar) | +03’40” |
| 9 | Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale) | +03’49” |
| 10 | Pierre Rolland (EF Education First-Drapac) | +04’00” |
