Jan Bakelants won the sixth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The teammate of Styby was in a sprint faster than Lieuwe Westra of Astana. Styby won the sprint of a group for third place.
“A fantastic day for Omega Pharma-Quick Step,” he said afterwards. “I had a feeling this morning when I got up. I knew that maybe we could try something today if we had the chance to be in the breakaway with a few guys. And that happened.”
The stage started fast. In the first half hour the riders had an average speed of 53 kilometers per hour. “At the end of the day we had still 45 kilometers per hour left. Yes, it was a tailwind, but still. Despite the high speed, we managed to set up a breakaway.”
“We were with sixteen riders and from our team Baky (Bakelants) and me were in front. Everyone worked well, so I knew we had a good chance to stay in front till the end. We especially kept an eye on Lieuwe Westra and Pim Lighthart in the final. Those two were very strong.”
The two Dutch attacked. “And Bakelants was the first to react. I was just a little too far at that moment. She quickly took about 20 seconds. Of course I didn’t want to close the gap, because Baky was there. But when Lighthart was dropped, I thought about place three.”
Bakelants won the stage and 24 seconds later Styby won the sprint. “And so I was third. I’m very happy with that, because I was seven weeks without competition. I feel better and better. Now there are two fast stages left here at the Dauphiné. We’ll see what happens.”