Fabio Aru (Astana) swooped to victory on stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Tournon-sur-Rhône thanks to a daring attack on the descent of the day's final climb, the Côte de Sécheras.
After conceding ground in both Sunday's stiff opening time trial and the uphill finish at Chalmazel-Jeansagnière, Aru suggested that his ambitions for the race would be limited to chasing stage wins, though not even he could have expected that victory would arrive on a day seemingly earmarked for the sprinters.
"I tried my luck on the climb, and then I decided to push on as hard as I could on the descent but I never imagined it would end up like this," Aru said after finishing two seconds clear of a peloton that was led home in a sprint by Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).
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The category 2 Côte de Sécheras – not to mention the sinuous descent that followed – would complicate matters for the fast men, however, and Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) ignited the finale by powering clear alone on the climb. Aru quickly formed a determined chasing group with Pierre Rolland (Cannondale) and Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida), and they were just 10 seconds behind Martin as they crested the summit with 20 kilometres remaining.
Aru's group swelled to eight riders when his teammate Luis Leon Sanchez led a delegation that included Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and Mikel Landa (Sky) across on the plateau that followed, and they soon pegged back Martin.
By that point, the peloton was almost within touching distance of the leaders and when Aru began forcing on the front at the beginning of the descent proper, it seemed as though his effort was more in hope than expectation. With 11 kilometres remaining, his lead was just five seconds over a peloton that was being led by Katusha and Bora-Argon 18, but as the road became more tortuous, he slowly began to add to his buffer.
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