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Criterium du Dauphine 2017: Richie Porte storms to time trial victory

Thomas de Gendt keeps yellow jersey but Australian gains time on GC rivals with big victory

Richie Porte (BMC Racing) stormed to victory in the stage four individual time trial to seize control of the 2017 Criterium du Dauphine.

While not enough to take over the yellow jersey from race leader Thomas de Gendt, who finished ninth on the day, Porte’s time of 28.07 on the 23.5km stage to Bourgion-Jalieu saw him put time into all of his overall rivals.

Defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished eighth, 37 seconds in arrears to Porte, while Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), at 35 seconds, and third-placed Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), at 24 seconds, were the only other major contenders within a minute of Porte.

Richie Porte won the stage four time trial at the Criterium du Dauphine (pic – Sirotti)

The Australian’s time, and average speed of 50.15km/h, were so good he even put 12 seconds into world champion Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin), who remains favourite to win the opening stage of the 2017 Tour de France against the clock in Dusseldorf.

Romain Bardet was among the biggest losers on the day, as he finished 1’53” slower than Porte in 46th place.

Brits Ian Stannard (Team Sky) and James Shaw (Lotto-Soudal) were among the early starters on the course, but it was Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis) who set the first serious time to beat, as he stopped the clock in 29.46.

Chris Froome lacked fluidity as he lost time to Porte overall (pic – Sirotti)

South African champion Daryl Impey made light work of shaving 44 seconds off that time, while Chad Haga took the mark down further to 28.39.

As soon as Tony Martin set off, however, it was clear that time was in danger, with Der Panzerwagen quick off the mark, and riding aggressively on the downhill sections and into the technical corners.

He nearly came a cropper on one bend towards the finish line, but stayed upright to set what appeared to be a winning time of 28.19.

Porte had other ideas, however, hitting his stride early and offering a much more flowing style than Contador, who had set his time shortly before the Australian.

Froome too was rocking in the saddle on the uphill sections of the course, as Porte set his blistering mark further up the road.

And with the Australian now in the hot seat after stopping the clock in 28.07, it became clear he would be gaining time on all his rivals – with the only question remaining being the destination of the yellow jersey.

Porte is now second overall, but leads his GC rivals with the mountains still to come (pic – Sirotti)

Froome stopped the clock in 28.44m a significant loss to Porte, and only five seconds faster than the time De Gendt set, as the Belgian earned at least another day in the yellow jersey.

With the mountains to come, it remains to be seen if De Gendt can hold on, but it appears to be advantage Porte after win number six for the season.

De Gendt remains 27 seconds clear overall, with Valverde a further 24 seconds back, while Contador now trails the Belgian by 1’02” and Froome is 1’04” down.

Simon Yates climbed to 14th, meanwhile, and trails new white jersey leader Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) by 13 seconds.

Criterium du Dauphine 2017: stage four (ITT) – result

1) Thomas de Gendt (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal – 13.05.53hrs
2) Richie Porte (AUS) – BMC Racing +27”
3) Alejandro Valverde (ESP) – Movistar +51”
4) Stef Clement (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo +55”
5) Alberto Contador (ESP) – Trek-Segafredo +1.02
6) Chris Froome (GBR) – Team Sky +1.04
7) Brent Bookwalter (USA) – BMC Racing +1.12
8) Jesus Herrarda (ESP) – Movistar +1.15
9) Sam Oomen (NED) – Team Sunweb +1.17
10) Diego Ulissi (ITA) – UAE Team Emirates +1.22
Selected other
14) Simon Yates (GBR) – Orica-Scott +1.30

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