Brajkovic defends Dauphine lead against Contador's attacks

Alberto Contador and Janez Brajkovic, Criterium du Dauphine 2010, stage 6

published 12 June 2010

Janez Brajkovic held off a flurry of attacks by Alberto Contador up L'Alpe d'Huez to protect his race lead at the Critérium du Dauphiné today in France. Two-time Tour de France winner Contador tried numerous times, but was unable to shake the Slovenian of team RadioShack and make up his 1'41" deficit.

Lance Armstrong is racing at the Tour de Suisse, but will have taken note of his team-mate's performance ahead of the Tour de France. Brajkovic, 26, will have likely earned himself a place on the nine-man team for the Tour de France, which starts July 3 in Rotterdam.

Brajkovic is inline for his first classification win since the 2007 Tour of Georgia. He showed class in defence of the yellow jersey today along the roads from Crolles to L'Alpe d'Huez. He was isolated by team Astana's Daniel Navarro and Jesús Hernández and then by Contador's attacks -- at least five up the final 13.8-kilometre climb. Each time, however, Brajkovic managed to motor up to the Spaniard's back wheel.

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Brajkovic defends Dauphine lead against Contador's attacks

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