Live coverage

Critérium du Dauphiné 2012: Stage 4 - (ITT)

By MarkRobinson
published

January 1 - June 10, Villié-Morgon, Fra, Road - WorldTour

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Welcome to our live coverage of stage four of the 2012 Criterium du Dauphine. It's an individual time trial today and for a race that isn't a grand tour it's quite a long one to boot - 53km in all. Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins, who leads the overall GC by a slender one second, is renowned as a good time trialist. He is last out today and will be confident of remaining in yellow tonight. But you never know in these situations and the weather can always play a part.

We join the stage just in time to see the top 50 riders in the overall GC set out for this 53km ITT. Here's a reminder of how things stood this morning after three stages and the prologue:

And here's the start times for those top ten riders in the GC (all times BST):

With today's course measuring 53km - a long ITT for a race that isn't a grand tour - we could see some big gaps in times posted and as a result a big swing in some of the GC positions.

Sorry about that folks. Some techinical problems this end. All resolved now.

No surprise to see Luke Durbridge setting the early pace. The Orica-GreenEdge rider is a time trial whizz kid, as he proved over a shorter distance by winning the prologue on Sunday.

In fact, as you can see from our graphics, Durbridge is fastest over all timed sectors so far this afternoon.

Belgium's Philippe Gilbert (BMC) is just about to set off. He's had enough of the Belgian press at the moment. Find out why right here.

Next out onto the road is Boasson Hagen's teammate Michael Rogers. Our editor Daniel Benson caught up with Rogers last night and you can read the interview here.

Well there's a turn up. There's someone quicker than Durbridge at last. It's only for the first sector, but let's keep our eye on Rabobank's Wilco Kelderman, who has made the fastest start to the day so far...

The wind is definitely a factor here. Hearing reports that Saxo Bank rider Jonathan Cantwell was hit by a flying tree branch earlier on.

Not a good day for Andy Schleck. Last year's Tour de France runner-up finished over nine minutes down on Durbridge and is set to tumble down the GC even further. The RadioShack-Nissan rider went into the winter vowing to improve his time trialing but looks as far off the pace as ever. That said, as he discusses here, he did have an interrupted preparation for this race.

Schleck's cause was not helped either by a crash, but nine minutes is still an awfully big deficit. With over 100km of TT at this year's Tour de France, his chance is looking slim with three weeks until the start.

Here's a what Schleck's boss Johan Bruyneel said on Twitter:

We're into the top ten riders of the GC now. Porte, Amador and Coppel are all on the roads. Roads that, incidentally, aren't looking like the smoothest I've ever seen.

OK. Sky have shone in the last few minutes. First up, Kanstantsin Sivtsov pushes his teammate Boasson Hagen into third overall with a scorching time of 1:05:41. And then Michael Rogers matches Durbridge's second-best time of the day for the opening sector.

Big roar for Tour de France champion Cadel Evans as he gets underway. He'll need to be at his very best to overtake Wiggins today, but his time trial skills are a slightly underrated part of his make up.

And Wiggins, the race leader and defending champion, is off and away.

As always in cycling, there are races going on all over the world. One you might not be too familiar with is the Tour de Singkarak in Indonesia, which is currently in progress. We've managed to source some truly brilliant pictures from this race. Check them out here.

Evans' BMC teammate Tejay Van Garderen has just taken second spot overall in a time of 1:05:40. Durbridge still leads.

And we have three new entrants into the top five for the first sector: Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) is 2nd; Andrei Amador (Movistar) is 3rd; and David Millar (Garmin-Barracuda) is into 5th

And just as I write that, Sylvain Chavanel beats all of them with a scorching fastest opening sector of the day: 20:21

Evans looking strong so far. Pretty aggressive start by the Australian.

NEW FASTEST TIME: Kelderman takes the lead, 12 seconds faster than Durbridge. He very nearly crashed on the final bend because he was pushing so far. Fearless from the 21-year-old Dutchman.

Reigning world time trial champion Tony Martin is second fastest now through sector one.

Rabobank have had an fairly disappointing season overall but there's no doubt that with young talent like Kelderman in their squad, their future looks bright. But will their riders hang around long enough for the potential to be fulfilled? Or are they the Arsenal FC of the UCI Pro Tour?

Evans and Wiggins have flown through sector one. Wiggins six seconds quicker than his main GC rival. Both men riding well and are in the top five overall for that first sector.

Chris Froome continues Sky's good progress today by moving up to second overall in a time of 1:04:45.

Great Britain's David Millar (Garmin-Barracuda) is a dangerous time trialist when everything falls right for him. He's just raced through the second checkpoint in fourth place and can't be ruled out of a challenge for the stage win in this kind of mood.

NEW FASTEST TIME: Michael Rogers (Team Sky) is the new leader after shaving 14 seconds off Kelderman's time

Cadel Evans identified Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) as a potential Tour de France rival earlier in the week, as you can read here. The Belgian has just crossed the line fifth fastest here.

Tony Martin now fastest through sector two, Chavanel third. But Martin 25 seconds quicker than anyone else. His wheels are on fire.

The top ten in the GC before today are now entering the crucial last 15km, which have sorted the men from the boys in ITT terms this afternoon.

Wiggins can now see Evans up the road. It looks like he has taken a fair chunk out of his rival on this second sector. We'll know in a minute or two.

Wow. Wiggins crosses the second checkpoint in the fastest time - a full 36 seconds ahead of Martin. A jaw-dropping performance. Can he keep it up for the last 13km?

NEW FASTEST TIME: Martin takes the lead in a time of 1:03:46 - 37 seconds faster than anyone else. So far.

Wiggins edging closer and closer to Evans' wheel. Is he actually going to catch him?

Evans 7th fastest at finish

Wiggins wins, a huge 33 seconds clear of Martin. He'll have a healthy lead in the GC

TOP 10 FINISHERS - STAGE 4

TOP 10 GC AFTER STAGE 4

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