France’s Pierrick Fedrigo won the stage 6 of the Dauphine Libere, but Alejandro Valverde remains the overall leader.
Fedrigo took the short stage with a powerful climb up to the old town of Briancon after emerging in a breakaway of four riders on the Col d'Izoard.
The BBox Bouygues Telecom rider was joined by Stephane Goubert of Ag2r, Juan Manuel Garate of Rabobank and Jurgen Van de Walle of Quick Step in moving clear of the 10 other riders who had figured in the day's main break.
Fedrigo then fended off the challenge of Van de Walle on the cobbled climb towards the finish to seal victory.
Valverde defended his overall lead by finishing with his closest rivals Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador, the gap to Evans remaining just 16 seconds with two stages remaining.
The day's big mover was Spaniard Mikel Astarloza, the Euskaltel rider jumping clear of the favourites in the closing stages to gain a minute and move from eight to fourth overall, with David Millar slipping back to fifth overall as a result.
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