Written by: Justin Davis

GRENOBLE, France, June 11, 2010 – Young Slovenian Janez Brajkovic enjoyed what could turn out to be his last day of calm in the race leader’s yellow jersey at the Dauphine Criterium on Friday.

But with a killer day of climbing on the sixth stage Saturday featuring the 13.8km climb to Alpe d’Huez, Brajkovic knows he could come under attack from his main challenger, Alberto Contador.

“It’s going to be hard stage, there will be a lot of attacks for sure,” said Brajkovic, who holds a lead of 1min 41sec on the two-time Tour de France champion Contador.

Contador is using this week’s race to fine tune his form for the defense of his Tour de France crown next month.

And while he has insisted he is simply in training mode, stage six could prove just too tempting for the Spanish climbing specialist to ignore.

The 151.5km ride from nearby Crolles to Alpe d’Huez takes in four climbs, including two which have been rated ‘hors categorie’ (unclassified), the most difficult in bike racing.

Brajkovic admitted he had little or no experience of racing on the long roads which lead to the alpine Cols (passes), and is simply hoping he has the legs to follow Contador if he goes.

And while he has only had to battle Contador once so far, when the Spaniard attacked on the climb to Risoul on Thursday, he knows a succession of climbs will be a much tougher test.

“This race is not his (Contador) primary goal,” added Brajkovic.

“But if he feels really good then he will attack. It’s hard not to attack when you’ve got good legs. I would do the same thing.”

In what could be a sign of things to come, Contador allowed one of his climbing lieutenants, Daniel Navarro, off the leash Friday and the 26-year-old Spaniard seized the day.

After spinning past a small lead group on the difficult 17.5km climb to Chamrousse, the Spaniard belied his lack of real downhill skills to hold off a two-man chase on a winding 22km descent into Grenoble.

He came over the finish line 34secs ahead of Italian Eros Capecchi of the Footon-Servetto team and Francaise des Jeux’s young French hope Thibault Pinot to savour the biggest win of his career.

“My work is obviously to help Alberto (pacing) when he needs it on the climbs, but today I had the green light to go for it myself,” said Navarro, one of several Astana riders fighting for a Tour de France place.

“I decided to go for it and it worked. I know I’m not a great downhiller, but when I crested the climb I knew I had enough of a lead to hold off the chasers.”

Apart from the two-man chase of Navarro, little happened on the day before the entire peloton will appreciate every last ounce of energy saved.

Brajkovic and Contador were even seen enjoying a conversation as they sat riding tempo in a main peloton which trailed a six-man breakaway by a few minutes.

Asked what they had been saying, Brajkovic was coy.

“We talked about everything, about the team, the stage, about the…. weather,” Brajkovic told Bicycle.net.

But the 26-year-old Slovenian knows that might have been his last chance to be friendly with Contador on race day.

“The rider I’m most worried about is Contador. If you’re not on his wheel when he attacks, then it’s over,” he added.

“It didn’t happen today, and I was pretty glad it didn’t.

“I’m sure on the last climb (to Alpe d’Huez) Alberto will try to attack. I don’t know if I can stay with him or not but I will try, and try to keep the jersey.”

Stage Results:
1. Daniel Navarro (ESP/AST) les 143,5 km en 3h26:16.
(moyenne: 41,742 km/h)
2. Eros Capecchi (ITA/FOT) à 0:34.
3. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:34.
4. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 1:39.
5. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 1:39.
6. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 1:39.
7. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 2:40.
8. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 2:40.
9. Luis Pasamontes (ESP/GCE) 2:40.
10. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 2:40.
11. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/GRM) 2:40.
12. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 2:40.
13. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 3:04.
14. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 3:04.
15. Sébastian Langeveld (NED/RAB) 3:04.
16. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 3:04.
17. Arkaitz Duran (ESP/FOT) 3:04.
18. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 3:04.
19. José Alberto Benítez (ESP/FOT) 3:04.
20. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 3:04.
…
22. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 3:04.
24. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 3:04.
26. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 3:04.
30. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 3:04.
31. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 3:04.
34. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 3:04.
38. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 3:04.
40. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 3:04.
41. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 3:04.
43. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 3:04.
51. Christophe Kern (FRA/COF) 3:04.
55. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 3:04.
57. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 3:04.
58. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 3:04.
62. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 3:04.
63. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 3:04.
65. Matthieu Perget (FRA/GCE) 3:04.
68. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 3:04.
70. Jérôme Coppel (FRA/SAU) 3:04.
71. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 3:04.
72. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 3:04.
74. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 3:04.
76. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 3:44.
78. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 5:56.
91. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 7:20.
94. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 7:20.
95. Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT) 7:35.
105. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 12:29.
113. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 12:29.
114. Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA/BTL) 12:29.
117. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 14:15.
128. Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM) 18:33.
133. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 18:33.
137. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 18:33.
138. Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ) 18:33.
139. Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU) 18:33.
144. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 18:33.
148. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 18:33.
149. Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF) 18:33.
150. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 18:33.
151. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 18:33.
157. Vincent Jérôme (FRA/BTL) 18:33.
158. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 18:33.
160. Roger Kluge (GER/MRM) 18:33.
161 coureurs au départ. 160 classés.
Non partant: Roy Sentjens (NED/MRM)
Abandon: Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA/LIQ)

Overall Results:
1. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 19h55:04.
2. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) à 1:15.
3. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 1:41.
4. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 1:56.
5. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 2:43.
6. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 2:55.
7. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 3:05.
8. Jürgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 3:06.
9. Christian Knees (GER/MRM) 3:10.
10. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 3:28.
11. Gorka Verdugo (ESP/EUS) 3:29.
12. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 3:43.
13. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 3:48.
14. Jérome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 3:53.
15. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 4:01.
16. Branislav Samoilav (BLR/QST) 4:03.
17. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 4:15.
18. Eros Capecchi (ITA/FOT) 4:18.
19. Daniel Navarro (ESP/AST) 4:23.
20. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/GRM) 4:33.
…
22. Christophe Kern (FRA/COF) 4:43.
26. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 5:32.
29. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 5:46.
30. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 5:58.
32. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 6:04.
35. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 6:33.
36. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 6:43.
39. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 6:44.
40. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 7:07.
47. Matthieu Perget (FRA/GCE) 8:28.
48. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 8:40.
50. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 8:51.
51. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 9:04.
52. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 9:12.
53. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 9:12.
56. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 10:24.
59. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 11:54.
61. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 13:52.
63. Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT) 14:28.
65. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 14:55.
72. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 18:41.
73. Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA/BTL) 18:47.
74. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 18:52.
81. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 21:30.
83. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 21:45.
89. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 23:10.
100. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 26:54.
101. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 27:03.
103. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 27:30.
105. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 28:29.
107. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 28:48.
115. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 32:17.
120. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 34:01.
124. Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM) 35:23.
130. Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU) 38:29.
132. Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF) 40:09.
136. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 41:01.
138. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 41:10.
139. Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ) 41:12.
140. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 41:37.
144. Vincent Jérôme (FRA/BTL) 42:17.
147. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 43:28.
152. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 44:26.
160. David Gutierrez Palacios (ESP/FOT) 50:41.

Article by: AFP
Photo: CorVos Pro