Porte in Dauphine yellow as Fulgsang wins sixth stage

LA MOTTE-SERVOLEX, France: Australian Richie Porte of the BMC team took the race leader’s yellow jersey of the Criterium du Dauphine after Friday’s sixth stage won by Astana’s Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang.
Fulgsang, Porte and overall favorite Chris Froome came through the line in a photo-finish after the descent of the beyond category mountain Mont du Chat at the end of the 147.5km stage.
Former teammates Porte and Froome built up a healthy lead on their rivals — Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde and Romain Bardet — on the mountain’s punishing climb of 8.7km at more than 10 percent gradient.
Fuglsang, a silver medalist in the road race event at last year’s Rio Olympics, stayed with the high-profile duo for the technical descent and was adjudged victor at La Motte-Servolex.
Porte now enjoys a 39-second lead over Froome in the general standings, with Fuglsang at 1min 15sec.
Saturday’s seventh stage is a challenging 168km ride from Aosta to the epic Alpe d’Huez climb and summit finish via the col de Sarenne.