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Criterium du Dauphine 2018: Stage 4

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The peloton is currently navigating the neutralised zone ahead of stage 4 of Criterium du Dauphine, the first of four consecutive summit finishes that will decide this race. The race gets underway officially at 11.50 local time. 

The general classification picture is as follows after yesterday's team time trial:

There are four non-starters on stage 4 of the Dauphine. Sunweb are down to just three riders as Roy Curvers and Johannes Fröhlinger have withdrawn, while Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates) and Floris De Tier (LottoNL-Jumbo) have also left the race.

Today's stage is a day of two parts. A flat opening gives way to more rugged terrain around the midway point. The first climb is the category 4 Col de Toutes Aures (2.5km at 5.1%) after 100km. That's a prelude to the day's main event, the hors categorie Col du Mont Noir (17.5km at 6.9%), the summit of which comes with 37km to go. The stage concludes with the short category 2 haul to the finish at Lans-en-Vercors (4.8km at 7.5%).

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Geraint Thomas showed no ill effects from his prologue crash in yesterday's team time trial, where he was one of Sky's main engines. Our man in France Patrick Fletcher spoke to Thomas after the stage, and the Welshman maintains that Romain Bardet (20th at 1:52) will be a danger in the days to come despite his current deficit. “Bardet is obviously a good climber and he’ll be looking to get that time back over the next four days," Thomas said.There are certainly enough mountains to do that.” Read more here.

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The gaps provoked by yesterday's team time trial ought to have allowed some baroudeurs a little leeway to take an early foray up the road, but for now, the peloton is steadfastly refusing to let any moves go clear. 

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As anticipated, the nine-man move is quickly snuffed out. Letour.fr reports that the average speed through the opening 35km is 52.5kph... Some riders will surely pay a price for this pace come the Col du Mont Noir later in the afternoon.

Quick-Step Floors could only manage 5th in yesterday's team time trial, 1:01 behind Sky, but Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner Bob Jungels explained that they would be a different outfit come the early team time trial at the Tour next month. ""I think at the Tour we'll have a slightly different squad and we'll hopefully be closer," said Jungels, who was surrounded by a lot of youth in the Quick-Step team on Wednesday. "Of course, the young guys, the neo-pros, they've never done such a big TTT. I remember my first one, it was a tough one as well. So no regrets. We've proved our shape is good." Patrick Fletcher has more here.

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The average speed after an hour of racing is 52.1kph.

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This 33-man group has opened a gap of 20 seconds over the fragmented peloton.

Romain Bardet is among the riders to have missed this split, and so AG2R La Mondiale are chasing furiously to shut the gap. Geraint Thomas, Dan Martin and Vincenzo Nibali have also missed the move. Ilnur Zakarin, Adam Yates and Marc Soler are all in the 33-man front group, but the gap is closing.

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There are still some riders scattered further behind, of course. Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) was among the first riders to be dropped, and the Dutchman has abandoned the Dauphine.

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Luke Rowe (Sky) and the Trek-Segafredo duo of Gianluca Brambilla and Tom Skujins briefly give chase before they are pegged back by the bunch. The four leaders, meanwhile, have built up an advantage of 20 seconds.

Finally, the race is settling into some semblance of order as Cataldo, Postlberger, Boasson Hagen and Keukeleire stretch out their buffer towards the minute mark. Arnaud Courteille (Vital Concept) and Christian Odd Eiking (Wanty Gobert) are in the process of bridging across to the four leaders.

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The pace relented slightly in the second hour, but not by much - the average speed so far is still a striking 48.93kph.

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Away from the Dauphine, Dimension Data have confirmed Mark Cavendish's build-up to the Tour de France. The Manxman is set to ride both the Tour of Slovenia and the new Adriatica Ionica Race this month to give him a block of racing miles ahead of La Grande Boucle. Read the full story here.

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There are two Vital Concept riders in this front group, Bryan Coquard and Arnaud Courteille, but their young teammate Corentin Ermenault has become the second rider to abandon the race on today's stage following Jos van Emden's earlier departure.

AG2R La Mondiale are busily setting the pace in the main peloton on the approach to the Col du Mont Noir. Will Romain Bardet's fightback in the general classification start here?

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Team Sky have taken up the reins in the peloton on the Col du Mont Noir, and the gap to the break has dropped to 3:55. Their brisk pace is also whittling the bunch down considerably.

Eiking has established a lead of 15 seconds over the rest of the break as he makes his way up the Col du Mont Noir.

Ian Boswell (Katusha) attacks from the main peloton on the ascent of the Col du Mont Noir. Sky and AG2R still have strength in numbers at the head of the bunch.

Eiking extends his buffer to 45 seconds over the break as he makes his way towards the summit. Boswell is at 3:40, while the peloton of GC favoruites follows at 3:55.

Edward Ravasi (UAE-Team Emirates) has bridged across to Boswell, and the duo are riding strongly, 3:00 behind the lone leader Eiking.

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Cataldo has joined Eiking at the head of the race. There has yet to be any movement from the main GC contenders, and the two leaders still have 3:05 in hand on the yellow jersey group.

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The main peloton, meanwhile, is 3:38 behind Cataldo on the upper slopes of the Col du Mont Noir.

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Cataldo has 35 seconds in hand on Eiking, 1:25 on the remnants of the break and 2:50 on the Sky-led peloton. There are still 50 or so riders in this yellow jersey group.

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Tao Geoghegan Hart sets the pace at the head of the peloton as it reaches the summit, 2:45 down on Cataldo.

This is quite a treacherous descent. Mercifully, conditions are dry, but the road has been resurfaced in several places and there are bumps aplenty in among the hairpins.

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And now a few drops of rain are beginning to fall over the race... Fortunately, the worst of the descent is almost at an end...

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Jonathan Castroviejo and Tao Geoghegan Hart set the tempo at the head of the yellow jersey group, which still contains as many as 60 or 70 riders.

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Nicolas Edet accelerates off the front for Cofidis and opens a small gap over the AG2R-led peloton. 2:10 the deficit to Cataldo.

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Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) moves up towards the head of the peloton as the climb begins.

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Geoghegan Hart, Kwiatkowski, Thomas and Gianni Moscon are lined up at the head of the yellow jersey group, which contains 30 riders or so. Warren Barguil shows signs of suffering in this group, but he is still hanging on.

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Valgren's work is done and he swings off after positing Bilbao just behind the Sky train. Bardet and Dan Martin are also well positioned, together with Nibali and Julian Alaphilippe.

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Pierre Latour accelerates in the yellow jersey group and his effort is going to see them catch Guillaume Martin.

As Guillaume Martin is brought back, his namesake Dan Martin accelerates with Thomas, Bardet and Alaphilippe on his wheel.

Dan Martin, Thomas, Bardet and Alaphilippe catch and pass Cataldo with 300 metres to go... Kwiatkowski has been dropped...

It's going to be a four-up sprint for the win... Julian Alaphilippe opens things up...

Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) wins stage 4 of Criterium du Dauphine.

Dan Martin (UAE-Team Emirates) places second in the sprint, ahead of Geraint Thomas (Sky) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).

The rest of the front group comes in a little under 10 seconds down. Kwiatkowski comes home 17 seconds behind, and will lose the yellow jersey this evening.

We await confirmation, but Gianni Moscon looks to be the new race leader.

Moscon placed 10th on the stage, 8 seconds down and will be the new yellow jersey, 6 seconds up on Kwiatkowski and Thomas.

Moscon placed 9th on the stage, 8 seconds down and will be the new yellow jersey, 6 seconds up on Kwiatkowski and Thomas.

Result:

General classification after stage 4:

 

Julian Alaphilippe speaks: "Im super happy. The Dauphine is very high-level race and all the riders are in top shape. In a few weeks there will be the Tour de France so it is not easy to win. From today, the course is very difficult and today was the only day that I was able to go for the win. I told Bob Jungels that I wanted to do something today and I did it. My legs felt good all day and so I went full gas in the last five kilometres.

It was a cruel finale for Dario Cataldo, who even tried to latch onto the four-man train à grande vitesse as it swept by him in the last 350 metres. Exhausted, the Italian propped himself against a barrier just past the finish line when he rolled to a halt.

The Dauphine is Gianni Moscon's first race (no, the Hammer Series does not count) since Paris-Roubaix in April. The day after Paris-Roubaix, Moscon attended an 11-hour UCI disciplinary hearing in Geneva to discuss his clash with Sebastien Reichenbach at Tre Valli Varesine. Moscon is accused of deliberately causing Reichenbach to crash - the Groupama-FDJ rider sustained a broken elbow and pelvis in the incident - but as yet, verdict has not been made public. Reichenbach had previously highlighted Moscon's racial abuse of Kevin Reza at last year's Tour de Romandie. 

Gianni Moscon confessed to surprise at taking over the yellow jersey: "“It’s a surprise to find myself in this jersey, I didn’t expect to be in this situation. For the rest of the week, Geraint Thomas is our best chance. It was already the plan that I’d be there to help him. The jersey isn’t going to change my role in the team.”

Chris Froome is not on the Dauphine but is inevitably making headlines all the same. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has reiterated his calls for a resolution to Froome's salbutamol case ahead of the Tour. Asked if ASO would consider trying to exclude Froome of its own accord, Prudhomme told SBS: "David Lappartient said it multiple times, it is a decision that must be taken by the UCI. It is quite evident this is what we need. What people may be struggling to understand, cycling works like anything else. You can't imagine the World Cup not being done by FIFA. It's FIFA that makes the rules and makes sure that the rules are respected. We are the organisers of the… we don't make the rules." Read more here.

Result:

Thanks for following our live coverage of stage 4 of Criterium du Dauphine. A full report, results and pictures are available here. We'll be back with more live coverage on Cyclingnews tomorrow and in the meantime, we'll have all the news and reaction from Lens-en-Vercors.

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