Richie Porte favorite after winning Dauphine Time Trial
Porte beats World TT Champion Tony Martin and his rivals to put him in 2nd place overall as Thomas De Gendt retains leaders jersey
Richie Porte showed his rivals that he's in form with a stellar time trial performance taking the stage 4 and beating World Time Trial champion Tony Martin by 12 seconds.
Behind Tony Martin was Alejandro Valverde who finished third, just 24 seconds off Porte's time.
USA's Cha Haga (SunWeb) set the early fastest time and came 5th overall just 32 seconds down on Porte in 5th place.
Alberto Contador was 35 seconds behind Porte for 7th place and behind him was Chris Froome in 8th place, 37 seconds behind Porte.
Thomas De Gendt fought hard to reatin the yellow leaders jsersey and finished 24 seconds down in 9th place, good enough to keep the yellow jersey for another day.
USA's Brent Bookwalter put in a credible time trial and was 45 seconds slower than Porte but was good enough for 10th place.
Overall Thomas De Gendt held onto the leader's jersey ahead of tomorrow's fairly flat stage that look likely to be the final chance for the Sprinters to take victory, as Stage 6,7 and 8 move into the high mountains with some incredibly tough stages on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Chris Froome sits just behin his main rivals Contador, Valverde and Porte and may be slighty disappointed with his overall performance. It looks likely that Froome and Contador would have to attack in the mountains to try and take some time back over Porte.
However Valverde may be planning just that and looks to be in a good position to take advantage of any attacks on Porte by any other rivals.
It's great to see Porte's teammate U.S. rider Brent Bookwalter in 7th place after his strong performance in the Tour of California. Both Bookwalter and Porte are both looking strong for overall GC performances. BMC Racing will now need to work hard to protect Porte and Bookwalter as they move into the mountain stages.
Stage 6 on Friday contains the HC climb of the Mont Du Chat before the finish.
Stage 7 on Saturday finishes atop l'Alpe Du Huez after the climb of the Col de la Sarenne.
Stage 8 on Sunay includes four very tough and well known climbs of both the Duaphine and Tour de France, the Saises, the Aravis, the Colombiere and the mountain finish up to Plateau de Solaison, which will surely decide the overall winner of this year's Dauphine.
Don't miss the last three stages of the Dauphine as it wil surely provide some of the best racing ahead of the Tour de France!
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2017 Criterium Du Dauphine Stage 4 ITT Top Ten
1 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:28:07
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:12
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:24
4 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:28
5 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:00:32
6 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
7 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:35
8 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:37
9 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:42
10 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:45
2017 Criterium Du Dauphine GC after Stage 4 ITT
1 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 13:05:53
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:27
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:51
4 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:55
5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:02
6 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:04
7 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:12
8 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:15
9 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:17
10 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:22