Nowhere to hide in 34.4-km time trial
June 5 th 2024 - 05:10
The 66th Criterium du Dauphiné moves up a gear on Wednesday with a 34.4-km individual time trial which will really reveal the current strength of the contenders for final victory on Sunday.
Sprinters had their say on day 1 with Mads Pedersen, bold attackers like Magnus Cort and Derek Gee had their day of glory in the hilly stages 2 and 3 but the new GC leader on Wednesday evening – for a new leader there will be – looks set to retain his lead for a bit longer if not for the whole week. The big names of the peloton have so far cautiously remained in hiding, testing their legs on the hills and the final climbs without revealing much of their current form after spending a lot of time in attitude training.
It is difficult to draw lessons from the first three days of racing except that Primoz Roglic, Matteo Jorgenson or Juan Ayuso look not far from their best while Remco Evenepoel is a bit more withdrawn. But there will be no more hiding on the flat terrain between St Germain-Laval and Neulise and the battle between the riders bidding for overall victory and the pure time trial specialists is an intriguing one.
As the reigning time trial world champion, Evenepoel’s performance will be closely watched, first to see whether his shoulder injuries are healed but also to find out whether he can bid for a podium placing or better on the final weekend. But it will also be a great indicator of what can be expected of the Belgian road champion for his first participation in the Tour de France.
Primoz Roglic is another rider who is both a CG contender and a time trial specialist and this will be a major test of his current form for both the Dauphiné and the Tour. He crashed on Tuesday but did not look too affected by the fall, still he needs to reassure his fans and himself. Juan Ayuso is another versatile leader with a lot to win and a lot to lose in this stage.
Still victory could elude all of the above if the pure specialists, who only came to the Dauphiné with this timed effort in mind, perform at their best. European champion Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) is the 4th rider to start, nearly two hours before Evenepoel and he could well stay in the hot seat for the whole of the stage if he sets the bar as high as he possibly can. Bruno Armirail, especially after his show of strength on stage 2, is also a rider to watch in a field comprising more climbers than real time trial experts.