Criterium du Dauphine: Evenepoel towers over everyone in the stage 4 time trial

The time trial stage of stage 4 of the Criterium du Dauphine ended in a duel between the world and European champions in this discipline: Briton Johua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) set the fastest time early on in the European champion's jersey, which only one rider was able to beat by the end - world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step). 17 seconds separated the two at the finish after 34.4 kilometres between Saint-Germain-Laval and Neulise. Evenepoel's winning time: 41:49 minutes (average speed: 49.353 km/h). Third place went to Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), 39 seconds behind.

Despite good performances, other riders also had to accept larger time gaps to Evenepoel: Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) lost 1:24 minutes in fourth place, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) finished 1:27 minutes behind and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) 1:38 minutes behind.

The course was designed for time trialists with a good pace, even though the terrain included two slight hills along the way and was constantly slightly uphill. A total of 445 metres in altitude had to be mastered. In view of the two time trials at the Tour de France, the stage to Neulise was seen as an important test of form for the favourites. Accordingly, the overall standings changed significantly after this stage.

With the time trial victory, Evenepoel also took the yellow jersey. The previous leader Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) put in a respectable performance, but still lost 1:24 minutes on the winning time. Gee dropped back to fourth place in the classification (+1:11 minutes). Evenepoel's closest rival in the overall standings is now Roglic, 33 seconds behind. He is followed by Jorgenson (+1:04 minutes), who took the lead in the junior classification.

It was Evenepoel's first win since his crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in April, in which he broke his collarbone. "It's been quite a long road - three weeks almost without a bike and then only four weeks of training, so to be at this level already is a good sign for the Tour and my preparation. I can only be happy and proud of what I've achieved today. Now we go from day to day and see what we can achieve in this race," said the Belgian in the winner's interview.

Criterium du Dauphine 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 4

1. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) 41:49 minutes
2. Johua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:17
3. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:39
4. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:07
5. Oier Lazkano (Movistar) +1:21
6. Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost) +1:24
7. Bruno Amirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +1:26
8. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +1:27
9. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) +1:38
10. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:41

The current standings in the overall standings

1. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) 12:27:22
2. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:33
3. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:04
4. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +1:11
5. Oier Lazkano (Movistar) +1:21
6. Bruno Amirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +1:25
7. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:25
8. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +1:27
9. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) +1:39
10. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:41

>> Results of the Criterium du Dauphine 2024 at a glance

>> All stages of the Criterium du Dauphine 2024 at a glance

This is how the 4th stage of the Criterium du Dauphine went

At 34.4 kilometres, it was the longest time trial at the Dauphine for the riders since 2012, when a remarkable 53 kilometres had to be completed in Bourg-en-Bresse. The first serious best time was set by the fourth starter of the day, Johua Tarling, who later finished second on the stage, completing the course in 42:06 minutes. This time was unattainable for the majority of the following riders, Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) was in second place with 44:16 minutes.

Only Remco Evenepoel, who was also on the course early in 33rd place overall, competed with the time and Tarling: at the first measuring point after ten kilometres, the Belgian beat Tarling's time by two seconds, but at the second measuring point after 24.9 kilometres he was one second behind. At the finish, however, the Belgian world champion was 17 seconds ahead of Tarling and took the lead.

Primoz Roglic, on the other hand, lost 26 seconds to Evenepoel's time at the first measuring point and was 30 seconds behind at the second measuring point. At the finish, the difference to Evenepoel was 39 seconds.

Derek Gee was the last rider in the yellow jersey to set off, but despite a solid performance he had no chance of defending his overall lead. He was already 50 seconds behind at the second measuring point and 1:24 minutes behind at the finish.