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.
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“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.
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