Evergreen Alejandro Valverde took the sixth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Friday with a last-gasp dash on a steep ascent while Alexey Lutsenko snatched the overall lead. The 41-year-old Movistar leader Valverde caught Tao Geoghegan Hart with the kind of uphill acceleration that has defined his career just before the line at Sappey-en-Chartreuse after 167.5 kilometres. Briton Geoghegan Hart, who won the 2020 Giro d’Italia, had made a burst with around 300 metres to go but couldn’t hold on until the finish, but his team leader Geraint Thomas climbed up the overall rankings to fourth at 13 seconds. Astana rider Lutsenko took the yellow jersey from plucky Lukas Postlberger with two mountain stages remaining, and is eight seconds ahead of his teammate Ion Izagirre, with Bora–Hansgrohe’s Wilco Kelderman a further four seconds back. Saturday’s penultimate stage is a 171.1km run between Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux and La Plagne, which finishes with a 17.1km climb at 7.5 percent towards a summit climax at 2072 meters above sea level, the highest point of the week.