Frenchman Christophe Moreau climbed back into the lead of the Dauphiné Libéré on the final climb of the day on Saturday's penultimate stage.
While Astana cyclist Maxim Iglinsky won the 120-mile stage from Gap to Valloire, teammate Andrey Kashechkin fell off the lead and into third place.
AG2R's Moreau, who held the leader's jersey after Stage 2, attacked the group around Kashechkin on the Col du Télégraphe, and the Astana cyclist could not respond.
Moreau gained about a minute and a half on Kashechkin. Aussie Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) rose to 2nd place overall.
American David Zabriskie (Team CSC), the US time trial champion, showed some mountain-climbing prowess as he retained his 5th place position, although dropping from less than a minute to 2-minutes 16-second behind. Discovery Channel's Levi Leipheimer, the winner in 2006, fell off the pace on the final climb and dropped out of the top 10.
Sunday's final stage is 80 miles between Valloire and Annecy, featuring a category 2 and category 1 (Col de la Forclaz) climb. With Evans only 14 seconds behind Moreau, it will be interesting to see if he allows the Frenchman a free ride to the finish.
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