Dauphine: Porte wins stage 4 time trial

Richie Porte (BMC Racing) underscored his Tour de France ambitions by winning the stage 4 time trial of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Bourgoin-Jallieu. The Australian defeated time trial world champion Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) by 12 seconds and he moves to within striking distance of the overall lead, which is still held by Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal).

Porte was two seconds down on Martin at the intermediate check after 13 kilometres, but he took flight over the flatter back end of the course to claim the stage honours. He now lies in second place overall, 27 seconds down on De Gendt, who did enough to wear the yellow jersey for another day by placing a fine 9th on the stage.

As well as seeing off the challenge of Tony Martin, Porte will draw confidence, too, from putting some 37 seconds into his former Sky teammate Chris Froome over the 23.5-kilometre course. Froome had recorded the third best intermediate time, 12 seconds down on Martin, but he faded thereafter, eventually placing 8th on the stage, 37 seconds down on Porte.

"I didn't expect to either win the stage or take that much time," Porte said as he waited to mount the podium. "But I've really worked hard on my time trialling this year. It's been a long time since I've done a good time trial, so to do what I did today makes me really happy."

Porte has been mining a rich seam of form throughout 2017, winning the general classification at both the Tour Down Under and the Tour de Romandie, and he has now moved himself into the box seat to win the Dauphiné. "I'm just so happy where I'm at, being so close to the Tour," Porte said. "I really hope that with a little bit of luck it can be a good Tour de France for me."

Porte placed 5th overall at last year's Tour, his first in the colours of BMC, and he will line up in Dusseldorf next month as the team's only captain and as one of the principal contenders for final overall victory.

"They've put a lot of faith in me and I'll be the sole leader for the GC this year," Porte said. "I've got a great team behind me. Whatever happens, happens, but I think I can go to the Tour de France in fantastic form and with a great team behind me."

The Tasmanian is not the only rider enjoying a notable sequence of results in 2017. 37-year-old Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), already winner of the Volta a Catalunya, Tour of the Basque Country, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, further underlined his condition with third place on the stage, 24 seconds behind Porte. The Spaniard is now third overall, 51 seconds behind De Gendt.

Valverde's fellow countryman Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) produced a solid if unspectacular display to place 7th on the stage, 35 seconds down on Porte, though it looked a better result by the end of the afternoon when he found himself one place and two seconds ahead of Froome. Contador now lies 5th overall, 1:02 down on De Gendt, with Froome a further two seconds back in 6th.

2014 Dauphiné winner Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) finished a minute down on Porte in 16th place, Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) limited the damage to 1:03, while Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) and Fabio Aru (Astana) both conceded 1:18 on the day.

It proved a rather more trying afternoon for Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), who struggled to find his rhythm and eventually stopped the clock in 30 minutes flat, some 1:53 off Porte's mark. The Frenchman faces into the Dauphiné's decisive mountain stages with ground to recoup. He lies 33rd overall, 2:20 down on De Gendt.

De Gendt, the last man down the start ramp, began the stage with a lead of 48 seconds over Axel Domont (Ag2r La Mondiale), though he knew that the greatest threat to his yellow jersey would come from Porte, Froome et al. After catching Domont for a minute, the Belgian began to believe he could defend his lead for another day.

"I already felt during the recon that I had good legs. I had a good feeling," De Gendt said. "I caught Axel Domont after the first time check, and he was a good point to focus on. I still have half a minute left on Richie Porte, so I'm really happy with the result."

De Gendt will expect to defend his advantage on Thursday's relatively flat run to Macon, before the Mont du Chat signals the beginning of the Dauphiné's mountainous denouement on Friday afternoon.

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