Chris Froome wins 2013 Criterium du Dauphine

Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) won the eighth and final stage of the 2013 Critérium de Dauphiné, while Chris Froome (Sky) finished second to comfortably win the yellow jersey.

De Marchi was the lone survivor of the day's break in rainy conditions in the mountains. He was nearly caught at the end when Froome and Porte (Sky) made a move in the last few kilometres, but managed to finish 24 seconds ahead of the Sky duo.

In a scene reminiscent of stage 18 at last year's Tour, Froome continued to accelerate ahead of and encourage his teammate Richie Porte (Sky) in an attempt to catch De Marchi and take a stage win, but the pair were unable to. Only Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) was able to follow their move however, meaning they sealed first and second in the general classification.

The big loser of the day was Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff), who was distanced on the final climb and subsequently slipped to sixth on GC, with Daniel Moreno (Katusha) taking his place on the podium. It was a frustrating day for Rogers' teammate Alberto Contador too, who crashed on the descent towards the final climb, and had to abandon his own ambitions to pace Rogers when the Australian was dropped.

In the other jersey competitions, Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took the points jersey classification while Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) held on to the young rider's jersey.

Meanwhile, Thomas Damuseau (Argos-Shimano) made it into the break of the day, and took the maximum number of points on the Cote de la Breole earlier on the route to seal his win in the king of the mountains classification.

The large break of the day split apart on the penultimate Col de Vars climb, where De Marchi , Travis Meyer (Orica) and the ever-aggressive Tim Willens (Loto Belisol) broke clear, and only Alberto Losada (Katusha) and Manuel Quiziato (BMC) were able to catch them on the descent.

Willens then rode away from the other four on the final Montee de Risoul, only to be caught and passed by De Marchi with five kilometres to go, who then rode alone through the fog to victory.

There was some concern for Sky and Saxo-Bank on the Cold de Vars when Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) went on the attack, but the Spaniard failed to build a substantial gap and was soon reeled in. After this attack, no-one was able to put Sky under any pressure, and they shepherded their first and second on GC with ease.

Results

Critérium du Dauphiné 2013, stage eight: Sisteron to Risoul, 155.5km

1. Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale in 4-28-09

2. Chris Froome (GBr) Sky at 24 secs

3. Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp at same time

4. Richie Porte (Aus) Sky at 31 secs

5. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana at 38 secs

6. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 49 secs

7. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha at st

8. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha at st

9. Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis at 55 secs

10. Rohan Dennis (USA) Garmin-Sharp at 1-00

Final overall classification

1. Chris Froome (GBr) Sky in 29-28-48

2. Richie Porte (Aus) Sky at 58 secs

3. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha at 2-12

4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana at 2-18

5. Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis at 2-20

6. Michael Rogers (Aus) Saxo-Tinkoff at 3-08

7. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 3-12

8. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin-Sharp at 3-24

9. Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4-25

10. Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Tinkoff at 4-27

Alessandro De Marchi wins the final stage

Chris Froome and Richie Porte chase De Marchi

Richie Porte (third), Chris Froome (winner) and Daniel Moreno (third)

Rohan Dennis wins the best young rider classification

Related links

Criterium du Dauphine 2013: Preview and coverage index