Cycling:Ireland's Nicolas Roche took fifth spot on the first stage of the Criterium du Dauphine this afternoon, coming in seven seconds behind Belgium's Jurgen Van Den Broeck on the 144-kilometres spin from Albertville to Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse
That left the AG2R La Mondiale rider in sixth place overall following yesterday’s prologue, 17 seconds down on Kazakhstan’s Alexander Vinokourov.
Daniel Martin was 25th on today’s stage and lies in 38th on general classification, one minute and 27 seconds off the lead.
Van den Broeck, who finished last year's Tour de France in fifth place overall, timed his effort to perfection to win the stage.
The Omega Pharma-Lotto rider attacked with less than five kilometres to go to beat Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez of the Katusha. Australian Cadel Evans finished third for the BMC team.