Froome in good shape for Tour after third Dauphine win

Froome will now look to preserve his race lead throughout the 151km stage from Pont-de-Claix to SuperDévoluy to win the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Tour race for the third time, as he builds for the defence of the Tour de France.

“I didn’t expect to gain time on Alberto Contador on such a short climb”, Froome said.

But it proved to be a tough stage for Porte who fell behind France’s Romain Bardet and Ireland’s Daniel Martin to finish fourth in the overall general classification. I went to [Tony] Gallopin because he’s a good one. It’s a boost of confidence ahead of the Tour de France but there’s still some work to do before July.

Frenchman Romain Bardet also tried his chances on a rapid descent between the final two climbs but Froome doggedly chased down every attack.

The Tour de Suisse, another key warm-up race of the second Grand Tour of the season, got underway with a home victory as Fabian Cancellara triumphed in a 6.4 km prologue in Baar by finishing in 7:38. “I’ve not raced much this year in order to be at my best during the third week of the Tour”. “Richie [Porte] was able to follow me”.

Froome and Porte were 19 seconds clear of Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) with Contador (Tinkoff) a further two seconds back. We don’t have a GC rider at Dimension Data, which leaves us free so I have more opportunities and I win more races.

Cummings, 35, said his mind had been more on the Tour than taking his first stage win on the Dauphine but he was more than five minutes ahead of the peleton at the start of the climb to the Col du Noyer.

When Martin launched his sprint for the line, Porte was inadvertently blocked in by his former teammates at Sky and even bumped into Froome.