Kennaugh fights off old friend Swift to take Alpe win

Manx rider Pete Kennaugh took a brilliant victory on the queen stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné yesterday, beating his old team-mate Ben Swift up Alpe d’Huez.

But there was less good news for Kennaugh’s Sky team-mate Chris Froome, with race leader Richie Porte pulling clear of him in the finale, which featured a small section of the legendary climb.

Froome still lies second overall. But the three-time Tour de France champion lost a further 24 seconds to Porte, of BMC, and now trails the Australian by 1min 02sec ahead of today’s final stage.

It promises to be a fascinating finish with definite opportunities for the three-time Tour champion – who has won the Dauphiné before each one of his Tour victories – to recover some of that time.

The 115km stage from Albertville to Plateau de Solaison features four categorised climbs including the final hors catégorie climb to the summit finish. Porte, though, looks in excellent nick.

As does Kennaugh, who won the stage by 13 seconds after distancing his old friend Swift – who has moved to UAE Abu Dhabi this season – early on the final climb. The pair had formed part of the day’s large 17-man breakaway before distancing the rest of the break.

“We didn’t speak much,” Kennaugh told teamsky.com. “Over the top of the Col de Sarenne we knew because we know each other so well that we’d have good cohesion and could pull away from the other two.

“Then it was a bit like the nationals – tense. We’re best of mates, but Alpe d’Huez is too big a win to gift either way so it was a fight to the line.”

Kennaugh – who was only drafted in to Sky’s line-up for the Dauphiné at the last minute because of injury and illness to other riders – said he hoped it would help his chances of making the Tour team. “For me, if I go to the Tour, then great, if I don’t, I’ve got another baby on the way in early August and I’ll reset my goals for the Vuelta.

“For now, I’m happy to be winning on Alpe d’Huez and I’m going to enjoy the moment.”

At the OVO Energy Women’s Tour, Polish national champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma (WM3 Pro Cycling) appears almost certain to take the overall victory after finishing safely in the main group of yesterday’s penultimate stage, which started and ended in Chesterfield.

The stage, which was won by Sarah Roy (Orica-AIS), who outsprinted breakaway companion Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans), represented the last real opportunity for the GC riders to make inroads.

Niewiadoma will take a lead of 1 min 25 sec into today’s fourth and final stage in central London.