Alaphilippe claims Dauphine stage four as Moscon takes overall lead

Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) beat a bevvy of top-drawer climbing talent to win the fourth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine in a summit finish in lashing rain on Thursday.

Sky’s Gianni Moscon emerged as the new yellow jersey after finishing in the winning pack along with Dan Martin, Geraint Thomas and Romain Bardet.

This first foray into the Alps saw an early escape which only ended with 400m to go when Martin dug in and caught the last survivor the Italian Dario Cataldo (Astana).

Martin went for the line setting a pace too hot for overnight leader Michal Kwiatkowski. Despite losing a little ground, the Pole is still level second with Sky teammate Geraint Thomas at 6sec in the overall classification.

Martin, Bardet and Thomas were all overtaken a couple of metres before the finish line as Alaphilippe timed his late burst to perfection.

“I felt great and knew I had a chance to win just looking at the race profile before the race,” said the Frenchman. “I was uncomfortable in all that rain but I just gave it everything I had in the last 50 metres,” he said.

Friday’s stage culminates with a 12.7km climb at an average gradient of 7 percent.

Criterium du Dauphine 2018 – stage 4 results (Chazey-sur-Ain – Lans-en-Vercors):

General classification after stage 4: