Richie Porte happy with ride in 'horrible' Critérium du Dauphiné time trial

Criterium du Dauphine 2021 73rd Edition 4th stage Firminy Roche La Moliere 164 km 02062021 Richie Porte AUS Ineos Grenadiers photo Dario BelingheriBettiniPhoto2021
Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) during the stage 4 time trial at the Critérium du Dauphiné (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Critérium du Dauphiné race director Bernard Thévenet pulled off something of a coup in plotting out the route of the 16.4-kilometre stage 4 time trial in the steep hills of the Forez region close to Saint-Étienne.

Ineos Grenadiers team leader Geraint Thomas described the test as one of the most taxing that he's tackled in his career. Meanwhile, his Australian teammate Richie Porte couldn't say what kind of rider it suited after he came through with the quickest ride of the day, at the time, and was eventually good enough for sixth place behind winner Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech).

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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014). 

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