Critérium du Dauphiné 2014 Stage 8 report: Nieve wins stage, Talansky wins GC!

Mikel Nieve took a memorable victory in the last stage of the Criterium du Dauphine. However, the stage will be remembered for the amazing GC battle that played out and ended up with Andrew Talansky taking the yellow jersey from Contador after somehow sneaking into the early break. (Slideshow route/profile)

Critérium du Dauphiné 2014: Results 8th stage

1. Mikel Nieve (spa)
2. Romain Bardet (fra) +0.03
3. Adam Yates (gbr) + 0.05
4. Andrew Talansky (USA) + 0.09
5. Jurgen van den Broeck (bel) s.t.
6. Tejay van Garderen (USA) + 0.15
7. Wilco Kelderman (Nld) +0.32
8. John Gadret (fra) + 0.36
9. Daniel Navarro (spa) + 0.41
10. Alberto Contador (spa) + 1.15

GC after 8th and final stage
1. Andrew Talansky (USA)
2. Alberto Contador (spa) + 0.27
3. Jurgen van den Broeck (bel) + 0.35
4. Wilco Kelderman (Nld) + 0.43
5. Romain Bardet (fra) + 1.20
6. Adam Yates (gbr) + 2.05
7. Vincenzo Nibali (ita) + 2.12
8. Mikel Nieve (spa) + 2.59
9. Daniel Navarro (spa) + 3.04
10. Jakob Fuglsang (den) +3.17

Race report
The break today featured numerous riders high on GC, inlcuding 3rd place Talansky. The full group was David Lopez, Mikel Nieve, Richie Porte (Sky), Tanel Kangert, Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Dani Navarro, Yoann Bagot (Cofidis), Adam Yates (Orica GreenEdge), Igor Anton, John Gadret (Movistar), Romain Bardet, Alexis Gougeard, Jean-Christoph Péraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Jurgen Van den Broeck, Tony Gallopin, Pim Ligthart (Lotto Belisol), Kristjan Koren (Cannondale), Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha), Ryder Hesjedal, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) and Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp-Endura).

The move was a dangerous one and with 86 kilometres left to race, Chris Froome went on the attack with 3 teammated whilst Contador followed but was isolated. The move eventually involved 18 riders, including Nibali.

With 60 kilometres remaining, the gap between the first and second groups was 1.55, but with the 1st group containing more riders, they still held the advantage. Talansky became the yellow jersey on the road.

The racing was breathtaking and hopefully a taster of what we’ll see at the Tour with Froome attacking again, Contador marking and then Nibali took a flyer, managing to get away with 28 kilometres remaining.

5 kilometres later, Contador went on the attack on the Côte de Montagny and immediately dropped Froome. The Spaniard was worried about losing his overall lead to either Talansky or Nibali and went into overdrive.

He eventually caught a tired Nibali with 2.5 kilometres remaining. However, the young American Talansky was still driving hard up front. Mikel Nieve had slipped off the front of the frist group and went on to claim an impressive stage win.

Talansky was 4th, 7 seconds down on Nieve. Contador finished 1.14 down meaning the Garmin rider had robbed him of his yellow jersey.

Today saw one of the best day’s of racing this year. Talansky was rewarded for his bravery. Contador showed how strong he was but will question the strenght of his team.

Froome meanwhile was a shadow of the man that won the 1st 2 stages of the race.