Stage 4 of the 2017 Criterium Du Dauphine will bring the first real sorting out of the general classification, as the riders take on a 23.5 kilometre individual time trial. Join The Roar for live race updates and coverage from 10pm (AEST).
The Dauphine has seen a couple of surprises already, with a breakaway allowing Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) to slip into the yellow jersey on Stage 1. That was followed by the sprinters again failing, with Koen Bouwman (Lotto-Jumbo) taking Stage 3.
Arnaud Demare announced himself as the best fast man in the race between the two breakaway wins though, picking up a bunch-sprint win on Stage 2.
All of that is put into the background though, with four of the remaining five stages being pivotal to deciding the overall race outcome.
De Gendt is still wearing the yellow jersey, holding a 48-second gap over Axel Domont. The first of the real contenders on GC is Pierre Roger Latour, sitting fourth at a minute and seven seconds down, although being on the same team as Romain Bardet he isn’t likely to have much freedom.
Alejandro Valverde moved into the top ten with a high finish last night, and most of the GC contenders are behind De Gendt by 1:09.
Tony Martin is the almost unbackable favourite for the stage based on time trial ability alone, but the battle is going to be for riders like Bardet, Valverde, Daniel Martin, Alberto Contador, Fabio Aru and Warren Barguil to keep up with Richie Porte and Chris Froome.
The course is relatively flat, with the time check coming in the town of Laval, 12.5 kilometres into the stage. Being a slightly downhill run to the finish won’t overly help the riders though, given there is some uphill between the time check and the final five kilometres.
It’s a slightly technical TT in areas as well, with tight twists and turns not long afer the time check.
Prediction
You just know Froome will be the best out of the GC riders, and given his form there is a very real chance he could take out the whole stage. Porte, of course, will give him a run for his money and given he excels at one-week racing, could also edge out Froome.
Given Tony Martin is in the race though, he will win and win convincingly, with Froome to move into yellow.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 4 from 10pm (AEST) and don’t forget to drop a comment in the section below.
Scott Pryde
Expert
That'll just about do it here on The Roar for our live coverage of Stage 4 at the Criterium du Dauphine as Richie Porte put in a huge performance to take the win. Hopefully you enjoyed the call. I'll be back on Saturday night for Stage 7 (up the Alpe d'Huez), but be sure to join Connor Bennett on Thursday for Stage 5. Bye for now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
General Classification 1. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) @ 13:05:53 2. Richie Porte (BMC) + 0:27 3. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) + 0:51 4. Stef Clement (Lotto-Jumbo) + 0:55 5. Alberto Contador (Trek) + 1:02 6. Chris Froome (Sky) + 1:04 7. Brent Bookwalter (BMC) + 1:12 8. Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar) + 1:15 9. Sam Oomen (Sunweb) + 1:17 10. Diego Ulissi (UAE) + 1:22
Scott Pryde
Expert
FINAL TOP TEN 1. Richie Porte (BMC) @ 28:07 2. Tony Martin (Katusha) + 0:12 3. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) + 0:28 4. Stef Clement (Lotto-Jumbo) + 0:28 5. Chad Haga (Sunweb) + 0:32 6. Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar) + 0:32 7. Alberto Contador (Trek) + 0:35 8. Chris Froome (Sky) + 0:37 9. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) + 0:42 10. Brent Bookwalter (BMC) + 0:45
Scott Pryde
Expert
RICHIE PORTE WINS STAGE 4
Scott Pryde
Expert
Here comes De Gendt. He's pushed hard and will hang onto yellow. This is actually a very strong ride and he will come up to the line, stopping the clock in ninth place, just under a minute behind. Axel Domont got overtaken on course and he will be the final rider over the line.
Scott Pryde
Expert
De Gendt gets around the final left 90 degree turn and goes under 1 kilometre to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Not a bad ride from Pierre Latour who is of course in white. He crosses the line 58 seconds down on Porte - pretty impressive there.
Scott Pryde
Expert
De Gendt is going to be outside the time, but it looks like he will hold onto yellow for another day. He comes through 3km to go and still has well over 3 minutes to hang onto it.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Valverde has just done a strong time there, coming through at the pointy end of the leaderboard. Thomas De Gendt inside 5km to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Now there's something we didn't expect - Contador has a two second advantage to Froome.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Richie Porte must surely be home with the win now. Froome has faded through the second half of this time trial (or maybe Porte just rode expertly), but Froome has lost 37 seconds to Porte and comes over the line in 7th place. That not only gives Porte the stage, but realistically a very good buffer going into the rest of the week.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Thomas De Gendt, who, remember has a minute and 9 seconds for his yellow jersey has just come through the time check 22 seconds behind Porte. If he can keep that pace going, he will hang on... Just.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Stef Clement coming up to the line now and he won't be at all disappointed with that. Third best time, just under half a minute off the cracking pace set by Porte.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Fabio Aru, another rider not noted for his time trialing is only just going to drop outside of a minute behind Porte here.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Chris Froome is 12 seconds behind Martin off the pace of Martin at the checkpoint - which leaves him ten seconds behind Porte. Given Porte rode a cracking second half of the race, 'Froomie' is going to need to fly to catch his former 'roomie'.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Updated top 5. 1. Richie Porte (BMC) @ 28:07 2. Tony Martin (Katusha) + 0:12 3. Chad Haga (Sunweb) + 0:32 4. Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar) + 0:32 5. Alberto Contador (Trek) + 0:35
Scott Pryde
Expert
Scott Pryde
Expert
Froome now just a few minutes away from the timecheck.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Thomas De Gendt is underway now! The yellow jersey rolls down the ramp and every rider is on course.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Woah! Porte has hit Tony Martin out of the park here. 28:07 is where he stops the clock. Instead of coming down to a matter of seconds, Porte has bettered the time of Martin by 12 seconds. That means the Australian rode the second half of the course 14 seconds than Martin after being two seconds down halfway.