Written by: Justin Davis

SALLANCHES, France, June 13, 2010 – Slovenia’s Janez Brajkovic secured the biggest stage race win of his career Sunday when he beat Spain’s Alberto Contador into second place at the Dauphine Criterium.

Brajkovic, who races for Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team, finished the week-long race with a lead of 1min 41sec on two-time Tour de France champion Contador.

The race was missing a host of star names who will be competing at the Tour de France on July 3-25, but for Brajkovic the presence of two-time champion Contador was enough.

“Actually, I don’t care (who is here),” said the Slovenian, who is only beginning to display the kind of potential he showed when he won the world under-23 time trial title in 2004.

“This is the Dauphine and whether there’s the world’s top 20 riders here or not makes no difference. To have raced against Contador and won is enough.

“He’s the best rider in the world, and although he is not on top form right now he can win just about any race he wants to.”

Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen, of Team Sky, won the final stage held over 148km between Allevard-les-Bains and Sallanches after dominating a circuit on which French legend Bernard Hinault won the world title 30 years ago, in 1980.

The win came only hours after his team sports director Sean Yates said the Norwegian, who has recently suffered an Achilles tendon problem, had proven his form ahead of a likely Tour de France selection.

Boasson Hagen said he has yet to be given the nod officially, but in the meantime the 22-year-old from Lillehammer was just happy to bury the Achilles tendon injury woes that hampered his early season campaign.
“It’s really great to be back after my injury problems,” he said.

“We had a plan this morning and that was to try and win the stage and the team worked really hard in bringing back the breakaway.”

An eight man breakaway formed as soon as Frenchman Samuel Dumoulin attacked at the one kilometer mark and they went on to build a lead of three and a half minutes inside the first 20 km.

But with several teams not represented at the front, Boasson Hagen helped drive the chasing peloton hard and as the leaders reached the 50km mark to begin the 11.2km climb over the category two Cote des Rafforts their lead had evaporated to just 40sec.

Eventually they were reeled in and a 17-man lead group came into Sallanches with a lead of just over 1:30. But with the steep 2.4km Domancy climb to negotiate five times on a wet and slippery circuit they were far from safety.

An acceleration by Garmin’s David Millar with 39 km remaining only served to prompt Boasson Hagen to counter, and when the Norwegian flew past it was game over for the big Scot.

Boasson Hagen was joined by four counter-attackers, but on the approach to the final climb at Domancy he pulled away again, keeping a fast cadence despite the climb’s 9.2 percent average gradient to leave everyone in his wake.

He made it look easy, but admitted: “I had to work really hard and when I attacked for the last time on the climb I was going full gas, and then some.

“It was all worth it. It’s really nice to come back to racing and get a win this week.”

This week both Brajkovic and Boasson Hagen will be waiting anxiously by the telephone, and although the former may not get the nod for the Tour de France because of his heavy race program so far this season he was all smiles.

“It’s the end of a perfect week,” added Brajkovic. “I feel really happy for me, and for the rest of the team.”

Stage Results:
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) les 148,0 km en 3h39:43.
(moyenne: 40,416 km/h)
2. Arkaitz Duran (ESP/FOT) à 0:27.
3. Egor Silin (RUS/KAT) 0:32.
4. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 0:34.
5. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) 0:40.
6. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 0:40.
7. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 0:40.
8. Jürgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 0:40.
9. Jérôme Coppel (FRA/SAU) 0:40.
10. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 0:40.
11. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 0:50.
12. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 1:00.
13. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 1:02.
14. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 1:02.
15. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 1:02.
16. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 1:02.
17. Koos Moerenhout (NED/RAB) 1:02.
18. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 1:02.
19. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 1:02.
20. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/GRM) 1:02.
…
22. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 1:04.
24. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 1:04.
25. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 1:04.
27. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 1:04.
32. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 1:47.
33. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 1:47.
40. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 2:26.
41. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 2:32.
55. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 3:06.
56. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 3:06.
57. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 3:06.
61. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 3:33.
63. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 3:47.
64. Matthieu Perget (FRA/GCE) 4:01.
65. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 4:01.
66. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 4:01.
68. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 4:47.
69. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 4:47.
71. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 6:04.
73. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 6:04.
74. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 6:04.
77. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 7:28.
78. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 7:28.
81. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 8:30.
84. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 8:33.
85. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 8:33.
87. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 10:11.
89. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 10:53.
93. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 10:53.
95. Kevin De Weert (BEL/QST) 10:53.
148 coureurs au départ. 95 classés.
Principaux abandons: Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF), Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU), Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF), Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ), Christophe Kern (FRA/COF), Julien Simon (FRA/SAU), Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU), Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT), Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU), Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM), David Millar (GBR/GRM), Dominique Rollin (CAN/CTT), Oscar Pujol (ESP/CTT), John-Lee Augustyn (RSA/SKY), Daniele Bennati (ITA/LIQ), Patrick Gretsch (GER/THR), Martin Reimer (GER/CTT), Ben Hermans (BEL/RSH), Dario Cataldo (ITA/QST), Eros Capecchi (ITA/FOT), Rein Taaramae (EST/COF)

Overall Results:
1. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 28h06:28.
2. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) à 1:41.
3. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) 2:41.
4. Jürgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 3:46.
5. Jérôme Coppel (FRA/SAU) 4:17.
6. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 4:23.
7. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 4:23.
8. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 6:16.
9. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 6:20.
10. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 6:57.
11. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 8:09.
12. Branislav Samoilav (BLR/QST) 8:19.
13. Christian Knees (GER/MRM) 8:41.
14. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 9:14.
15. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 10:19.
16. Arkaitz Duran (ESP/FOT) 10:20.
17. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 10:31.
18. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 10:33.
19. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 10:34.
20. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 11:24.
21. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 11:50.
22. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 12:06.
23. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 13:31.
24. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 13:56.
25. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 14:08.
26. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 14:29.
…
30. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 17:20.
32. Matthieu Perget (FRA/GCE) 18:18.
35. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 20:48.
42. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 25:02.
45. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 26:34.
46. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 28:06.
49. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 28:32.
55. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 33:54.
58. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 35:58.
63. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 39:57.
65. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 43:47.
66. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 44:33.
67. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 45:21.
72. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 48:44.
76. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 54:34.
77. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 56:50.
81. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 1h00:16.
83. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 1h01:52.
84. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 1h01:55.
86. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 1h03:07.
88. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 1h05:57.
93. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 1h13:42.
94. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 1h14:00.
95. Jonas Jörgensen (DEN/SAX) 1h19:03.

Article: AFP
Photo: CorVos Pro