RISOUL, France, June 10, 2010 – Slovenian Janez Brajkovic confidently countered a series of attacks from Tour de France champion Alberto Contador to keep the race leader’s yellow jersey at the Dauphine Criterium on Thursday.

Frenchman Nicolas Vogondy of the Bbox-Bouygues team belied his reputation as a non-climber to claim a well-deserved stage win on what was the first day of four in the French Alps.

With 1.7km to race in the 12.8km climb to Risoul ski station, Vogondy timed a late attack to perfection as Brajkovic contented himself with keeping close tabs on Contador in the Frenchman’s wake.

At least two French teams, notably Francaise des Jeux and Cofidis, had been expected to spark life into the climb towards Risoul, which was hosting its first ever professional road race stage.

Cofidis had analysed the climb while FDJ’s main climber Remy di Gregorio was expected to try and convince his bosses he is worthy of a place on the Tour de France.

Both Cofidis and Di Gregorio failed to deliver, and after a series of skirmishes inside the final five kilometres, Vogondy became the unlikely hero.

His win comes only two months after he was given back his racing licence following the discovery of a heart problem.

“I’ve been the French champion twice but to win at the Dauphine — the champions who are here, Contador, Brajkovic, (Samuel) Sanchez, who is the Olympic champion, it’s just something else,” he said.

“It’s like a dream. This is crazy. I don’t know what to say.

“I only got my racing licence back a couple of months ago after going in for more extensive scans.”

Brajkovic, who is bidding for a place in RadioShack’s Tour de France team, took possession of the yellow jersey after a stunning time trial ride over 49km on Wednesday.

Brajkovic and Contador Dueling

He still leads Contador, who is in third place, just behind American Tejay Van Garderen, by 1min 41sec.

Britain’s David Millar, of Garmin-Transitions, started the day only 36sec behind Brajkovic but the big Scot failed to keep up when the pace rose on the climb to Risoul and dropped from second to fourth overall at 1:56.

Contador, who lost the race lead after a sixth-place finish on stage four, is racing at the Dauphine primarily to top up his form for the Tour de France.

And he insisted his accelerations inside the final 3km, where the headwind proved a major handicap, were designed simply to test himself.

“On the final climb I was waiting and waiting for people to attack but nothing was happening. When I pulled away I wanted to just test myself,” he said.

“It was a complicated climb, and made harder by the fact there was a headwind. Following someone’s wheel was fine, but attacking solo was a different affair.”

Now, the onus will be on RadioShack to help Brajkovic defend his lead in the coming days.

Friday’s fifth stage is a 143.5km ride from Serre-Chevalier to Grenoble and kicks off with a 15.5km climb to the summit of the Col du Lautaret, with the 17.5km climb over Chamrousse coming later in the stage.

He Kid What Are You Still Doing Here?

Stage Results:
1. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) les 210,5 km en 6h03:25.
(moyenne: 34,753 km/h)
2. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) à 0:12.
3. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 0:15.
4. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 0:15.
5. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 0:18.
6. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 0:18.
7. Jürgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 0:18.
8. Eros Capecchi (ITA/FOT) 0:18.
9. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 0:23.
10. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 0:23.
11. Artem Ovechkin (RUS/KAT) 0:27.
12. Oscar Pujol (ESP/CTT) 0:29.
13. Branislav Samoilav (BLR/QST) 0:29.
14. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 0:34.
15. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) 0:40.
16. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 0:43.
17. Jérôme Coppel (FRA/SAU) 0:43.
18. Egor Silin (RUS/KAT) 0:43.
19. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 0:49.
20. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 0:51.
21. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 0:51.
…
23. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 0:59.
26. Christophe Kern (FRA/COF) 1:05.
28. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 1:05.
31. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 1:14.
32. Matthieu Perget (FRA/GCE) 1:17.
33. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 1:18.
36. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 1:18.
39. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 1:24.
44. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 1:33.
46. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 1:35.
47. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 1:35.
49. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 1:42.
57. Stefan Denifl (AUT/CTT) 2:47.
59. Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA/BTL) 2:54.
60. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 2:54.
62. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 2:54.
63. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 3:20.
70. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 4:22.
73. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 4:24.
74. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 5:19.
81. Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT) 6:07.
85. Vincent Jérôme (FRA/BTL) 7:17.
86. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 7:34.
89. Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM) 9:19.
92. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 10:29.
93. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 10:29.
97. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 12:01.
102. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 12:55.
103. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 12:55.
114. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 12:55.
115. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 12:55.
116. Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU) 12:55.
121. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 12:55.
125. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 12:55.
128. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 12:55.
132. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 12:55.
143. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 17:08.
145. Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF) 17:08.
146. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 17:08.
148. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 17:08.
153. Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ) 17:08.
162. Tomas Vaitkus (LTU/RSH) 17:38.
166 coureurs au départ. 162 classés.
Non partant: Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA/OLO)
Abandons: Bert Grabsch (GER/THR), Joaquin Novoa (ESP/CTT), Thomas Fothen (GER/MRM), Markus Eichler (GER/MRM)

Overall Results:
1. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 16h25:44.
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. Jürgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 3:06.
8. Christian Knees (GER/MRM) 3:10.
9. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 3:28.
10. Gorka Verdugo (ESP/EUS) 3:29.
11. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 3:29.
12. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 3:43.
13. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 3:48.
14. Jérome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 3:53.
15. Branislav Samoilav (BLR/QST) 4:03.
16. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 4:15.
17. Artem Ovechkin (RUS/KAT) 4:15.
18. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 4:25.
19. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 4:38.
20. Christophe Kern (FRA/COF) 4:43.
21. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 4:44.
…
25. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 5:32.
29. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 6:01.
30. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 6:08.
31. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 6:10.
34. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 6:22.
35. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 6:33.
38. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 6:44.
40. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 7:07.
45. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 7:29.
49. Matthieu Perget (FRA/GCE) 8:28.
50. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 8:40.
51. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 8:51.
52. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 9:04.
53. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 9:12.
54. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 9:12.
55. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 9:13.
56. Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA/BTL) 9:22.
60. Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT) 9:57.
63. Stefan Denifl (AUT/CTT) 10:30.
67. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 12:20.
69. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 13:19.
74. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 13:45.
75. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 13:52.
78. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 14:55.
84. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 15:43.
92. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 18:32.
93. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 18:41.
94. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 18:52.
103. Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM) 19:54.
112. Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU) 23:00.
118. Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF) 24:40.
127. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 25:32.
128. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 25:37.
129. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 25:41.
130. Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ) 25:43.
132. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 26:08.
134. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 26:23.
140. Vincent Jérôme (FRA/BTL) 26:48.
142. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 27:30.
145. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 27:59.
147. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 28:01.
152. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 28:48.
153. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 28:57.
162. André Steensen (DEN/SAX) 45:46.

Story by: AFP
Photo: CorVos Pro