a deficit of seven seconds to Martin at the first intermediate point, and turned it into a 36-second lead in the space of , eventually taking the stage victory by 34 seconds over Martin. Such was Wiggins' performance, which he later deemed "satisfying", that he was almost catching Cadel Evans () on the road, despite Evans starting two minutes before Wiggins; Evans ultimately finished the stage in eighth position, 1' 43" down on Wiggins' time. rider Andy Schleck, another of the overall contenders for the Tour de France along with Evans and Wiggins, lost over ten minutes to Wiggins on the stage after a crash and a puncture. Stage 5 8 June 2012 — Saint-Trivier-sur-Moignans to Rumilly, The first of three mountainous stages to conclude the Dauphiné, the fifth stage of the race was seen as a precursor to the tenth stage of July's Tour de France, with the majority of the day's route making up the parcours of that stage to be held on 11 July. Three categorised climbs were part of the parcours of the day, notably the hors catégorie Le Grand Colombier – making its début in the race – with an average gradient of 6.9%, reaching up to an altitude of , but the summit of the final climb – the Col de Richemond – came with remaining of the stage. Mini-attacks set the course of the early running of the stage, which was carried out a quick pace, with the peloton covering in the first hour of racing. After rider Blel Kadri escaped out of the peloton to take the honours at the first summit of the day, the Côte de Corlier, it was not until the uncategorised Col de la Berche several kilometres later that a group of riders managed to get clear. A total of ten riders went clear, and quickly gathered a five-minute lead over the rest of the field. At the foot of Le Grand Colombier, another seven riders formed a chase group on the road ahead of the peloton, which was later reduced to just Christophe Kern () and Brice Feillu (), after Kern had upped the pace in the group. At this point, Kern's team-mate Kévin Reza was dropped from the lead group, and the peloton itself had been slimmed to around fifty riders, with Sylvain Chavanel () and David Millar () – both in the top ten of