Cycling-Nibali flexes his muscles as Froome loses his way

By Julien Pretot PARIS, June 12 (Reuters) - Vincenzo Nibali put himself in pole position to become the first Italian to win the Criterium du Dauphine after he claimed the overall lead at the end of a challenging sixth stage on Friday, while Chris Froome's limitations were exposed. Defending Tour de France champion Nibali, who like other top guns is using the Criterium du Dauphine to warm up for the July 4-26 extravaganza, took second place in the sixth stage behind former world champion Rui Costa of Portugal. He snatched the yellow jersey from American Tejay van Garderen and now leads Costa by 29 seconds and world number one Alejandro Valverde of Spain by 30 seconds. Froome, the 2013 Tour de France champion, missed the day's winning breakaway and slumped to seventh overall. The Team Sky rider could not follow fellow Briton Simon Yates and Ireland's Dan Martin in the finale, three weeks ahead of the Tour. The pace of the stage was frantic from the start, with repeated attacks in driving rain, and when Nibali and Valverde raced away in a five-man breakaway with Tony Martin, Tony Gallopin and Costa, Froome did not take his chance. "It was a mistake. We messed up on this one, it's a good lesson" said Sky sports director Nicolas Portal, who, looking forward to the Tour, said the race would be very tough to control. "It's going to be hard and riders like (Nairo) Quintana like to attack far from the finish, we saw today that (Valverde's team) Movistar played very well today," the Frenchman said. "It's a reckless race and when you do that you take risks but when it works it works perfectly." Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford was not too worried by the condition of Froome. "He's on the way up," he said. "In the past...sometimes, we were flying on in the Dauphine and hanging on in the last week of the Tour." Nibali, who still looked a cut above Froome on Friday, agreed. "Being in great condition here is not the best solution," the Astana rider said. "I'm here to find my condition to be at my best for the Tour," said Nibali. The race ends on Sunday after two more mountain stages. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; editing by Pritha Sarkar)