Richie Porte threw down the gauntlet to his rivals with an emphatic victory in the individual time-trial stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Bourgion-Jalieu.
The BMC rider set out on the 23.5km time trial looking to beat the best time of 28’19” set by Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) and as he crossed the intermediate check point after 13km, he was just two seconds behind the German rider.
With the last 10km of the course featuring an uphill section, Porte put his climbing legs to the test and flew home to clock 28’07” on the line in Bourgion-Jalieu, 12 seconds ahead of Martin.
With 29 riders still to come home, Porte sat and waited to see if his time would hold up and as rider after rider reached the finish line, the stage win looked likely.
As the yellow jersey leader Thomas De Gendt crossed the line, Porte’s victory was assured and his winning time bumped him up to second on the General Classification, 27 seconds behind De Gendt.
Stage 5 is the final chance for the sprinters before Porte takes on his General Classification contenders on the final three mountain stages.
.@richie_porte frappe un grand coup et remporte le CLM devant Tony Martin / @richie_porte beats Tony Martin & all GC contenders. #Dauphine pic.twitter.com/ppecwruAxv
— Critérium Dauphiné (@dauphine) 7 iunie 2017
Criterium du Dauphine 2017 – stage 4 results (La Tour-du-Pin – Bourgion-Jalieu ITT):
| 1 | Richie Porte (BMC) | 28:07 |
| 2 | Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +12” |
| 3 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +24” |
| 4 | Stef Clement (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +28” |
| 5 | Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar) | +32” |
| 6 | Chad Haga (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 7 | Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) | +35” |
| 8 | Christopher Froome (Team Sky) | +37” |
| 9 | Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) | +42” |
| 10 | Brent Bookwalter (BMC) | +45” |
General classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) | 13:05:53 |
| 2 | Richie Porte (BMC) | +27” |
| 3 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +51” |
| 4 | Stef Clement (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +55” |
| 5 | Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) | +01’02” |
| 6 | Christopher Froome (Team Sky) | +01’04” |
| 7 | Brent Bookwalter (BMC) | +01’12” |
| 8 | Jesus Herrada (Movistar) | +01’15” |
| 9 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +01’17” |
| 10 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’22” |
