Dauphine: Brajkovic Close to Victory

Alberto Contador may have won the "battle", but it looks like Janez Brajkovic won the war. Another day filled with attacks ended up in a two man breakaway between the two, and though Contador beat him to the line for the stage victory, he did not gain a second on Brajkovic's lead. Tejay Van Garderen also lost some time, so Brajkovic's lead actually got larger and with Contador not expected to attack, his victory is all but sealed. It would be well deserved after a strong week of riding capped off with an incredible ride today. Brajkovic kept his own tempo, rather than focus on Contador, and managed to catch him on every attack and keep the gap together. The stage started with a large group of riders that slowly dwindled down until the leaders moved into position for one last duel in the mountains. The first to be dropped was Menchov, then Van Garderen fell away. (Surprisingly, Brajkovic's teammate Chris Horner actually helped Van Garderen to the line and minimized the damage. Without Horner, Brajkovic may have lost enough time to not only fall off of the podium, but potentially the entire top 10.) Contador will also be rewarded for his riding, as he will wear the points leader jersey tomorrow. (Brajkovic is the actual leader, but he has the leader's yellow.) Spaniard Egoi Martinez de Esteban grabbed the mountains jersey as he was first at all of the first three checkpoints. Overall, today was a sucess for everyone. Brajkovic held his lead, Contador (not trying to attack Brajkovic) got the stage win, and Van Garderen stayed on the podium. Tomorrow's final stage has a few bumps early, and then ends pretty flat.

As long as Brajkovic stays out of trouble, and his team keeps an eye on things, he will win the race tomorrow. There will still be an interesting battle for the stage win, as most of the field should probably be together at the finish.

CLASSIFICATIONS AFTER STAGE 6

OVERALL

1. Janez Brajkovic

2. Alberto Contador -1:41

3. Tejay Van Garderen -2:41

4. Jurgen Van Den Broeck -3:46

5. Nicolas Vogondy -4:01

6. Jerome Coppel -4:17

7. Christophe Riblon -4:23

8. Pierre Rolland -5:54

9. Chris Horner -6:10

10. Sylvester Szmyd -6:33

MOUNTAINS

1. Egoi Martinez de Esteban 55

2. Janez Brajkovic 33

3. Alberto Contador 32

POINTS

1. Janez Brajkovic 87

2. Alberto Contador 83

3. Geraint Thomas 67

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Euskaltel-Euskadi

2. AG2R -1:39

3. Astana -4:20