If a professional cyclist wants to make a statement about his abilities, the epic climb of Mont Ventoux is certainly the place to do it.
Sylvester Szmyd and Alejandro Valverde finished 1st and 2nd on the moonscape mountaintop on Thursday for Stage 5 of the Dauphiné Libéré.
In the process, defending champion Valverde took the overall lead of the race away from Australia's Cadel Evans, who dropped 16 seconds back to 2nd place.
Doping ban
Valverde has three more stages to protect the yellow jersey from rivals Evans and Alberto Contador (in 3rd at 1:04) in the 8-stage race considered to be a warm-up for the Tour de France in July.
Spain's Valverde may have no Tour de France this year, however, as he's facing a two-year doping suspension.
The Italian Olympic Committee banned Valverde from racing in Italy after ruling that a blood sample taken during last year's Tour de France matched evidence acquired in the Operacion Puerto doping investigation. (The Tour enters Italian soil again this year.)
Meanwhile, UCI president Pat McQuaid said his organization may impose a worldwide ban after it sees Italy's evidence. Valverde has appealed the Italian ruling.
Finish
Valverde's efforts on Thursday propelled him to 1st place from 8th place overall at the end of the day on Wednesday, as he finished more than 2 minutes ahead of Evans.
Valverde was among a group of elite riders that formed on the lower slopes of the mountain. He attacked and after a spell was followed by Liquigas teammates Ivan Basso and Szmyd.
Basso couldn't hold on, however, and Szmyd and Valverde accompanied each other to the top. Near the summit, Szmyd slowed as Valverde kept up his pace in the lead. Then Szmyd regained his momentum and passed Valverde to take the stage win.
It was unclear whether Szmyd had a momentary lapse and Valverde waited for him in recognition of his assistance on the climb, or Szmyd actually decoyed Valverde into relaxing then charged past when his guard was down.
Evans
Further down the mountain, Evans was losing the yellow leader's jersey for the second time in the Dauphiné. Contador and the others were content to let Evans do all the work as he sat on his wheel.
Near the finish, Haimar Zubeldia (Astana), Robert Gesink (Rabobank)
and Jacob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) attacked to finish ahead of Evans and the others.
See expanded race reports and results at CyclingNews or VeloNews.
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