You could almost hear the suffering on Mont Blanc at the end of Saturday’s stage 7 in the 2015 Critérium du Dauphiné. After traversing five climbs to arrive on the iconic slopes on Mont Blanc, an elite group of riders battled for supremacy in the pre-Tour lead-up race used to fine-tune form before July. Among the top riders was Team Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez, showing his continued improving form and riding into fifth place on the stage behind winner Chris Froome (Sky) at 54-seconds. His efforts put him in tenth place on the general classification.

"I came to Dauphiné just to pick up the rhythm of competition again. This is my first race since Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It is the same situation as in 2013 when I came here to prepare the Tour. Now I feel better, so I can be happy. Riders like Valverde and Nibali lost a lot of time on me today but I don't really care as I am here just to focus on my own performance and preparation. I hope I can keep going in the same direction I am now and can arrive soon at my first condition peak. I am now in the top ten, even close to the 8th position. In that sense it is good to take WorldTour points, but really, my big goal is the Tour de France. The Tour will be here soon. I am convinced I will be very good in the Tour," said a confident Joaquim Rodriguez. His time in 10th place is only 17-seconds from eighth place Daniel Martin of Cannondale-Garmin.

A small break up the road proved the perfect incentive for Chris Froome and Tejay van Garderen (BMC) to chase them down and play for the win. Froome proved too strong to beat, but van Garderen rode a sensible race to ride back into the yellow jersey for a second time this week. He now leads by 18-seconds to Froome and 45-seconds to Benat Intxausti of Movistar on the overall classification.

Notably absent from the action was yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) who was distanced near the 10 km to go mark and disappeared from the top ten altogether. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) dropped from third to sixth.

The 155 km stage began in Montmélian and ended in Saint-Gervais with Mont Blanc in the background. Just like yesterday, attacks were frequent in the early kilometers with a large group of 20 finally building a gap. Team Katusha’s Tiago Machado was part of this group which produced attacks in the final 30 km that were eventually hunted down by Froome and his Sky train.

The Critérium du Dauphiné ends on Sunday but the race is still far from over. Tomorrow’s stage 8 begins in today’s finish town of Saint-Gervais and travels 156,5 km to finish uphill in Modane. Along the way – six rated climbs to provide a final test before July’s Tour de France in three weeks.