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Evenepoel and Roglič square up in Critérium du Dauphiné stage 4 TT – Live coverage

Joshua Tarling

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Matteo Sobrero (Bora-Hansgrohe) is putting in a solid ride. The Italian hits the second check with the second best time, 1:34 behind Tarling. Fred Wright is just behind Sobrero with the third best time at that point.

Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) takes the second best time at the finish despite his error, 2:10 down on Josh Tarling. Durbridge has the fourth best time to date, 2:41 behind Tarling. 

Nils Politt had the third best time at the second check, 1:49 down on Tarling, but he briefly went off course soon afterwards. The German was quickly back on track and he’s currently barrelling towards the finish. 

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) rolls down the start ramp to begin his effort.

Chris Froome crosses the line with the 11th best time so far, some 4:50 down on Tarling. This week marks the fifth anniversary of the recon crash at the Dauphine that effectively ended Froome’s time as a Grand Tour contender. He is currently in the fourth season of a five-year contract with Sylvan Adams’ Israel Premier Tech team.

Luke Durbridge comes through the second intermediate check a shade over two minutes down on Tarling, whose time might well be enough to claim stage victory. It will certainly stand unchallenged until Evenepoel and Roglic roll down the start ramp.

Luke Durbridge (Jayco-Alula) is out on the course and the Australian is second quickest at the first check point, albeit 46 seconds off the currently unassailable Tarling.

“It was about not showing off at the start, not getting everything out, because it’s so much longer than you think,” Tarling continued. Regardless of the final result, it was a useful work-out ahead of the Paris Olympics, where the youngster is one of the favourites for gold in the time trial. “I haven’t done any TT bike time trials this year and I’m not going to get many before the Olympics. We’ll see if the result is up there, but it was more about how close I could get to perfection.”

As things stands, nobody has come within 2:30 of Tarling’s time, but the European champion perceived his ride a little differently to the rest of us. “It felt slow, you know,” Tarling told ITV and FloBikes at the finish. “It’s that tarmac, it’s quite grippy. It…

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