2013 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 4 TT Preview

 

Stage 4 ITT Profile: 32.5 flat kms

Wednesday’s stage 4 Individual Time Trial should rearrange the standings a good deal. Tony Martin would be the favorite, but we will have to see if he can recover enough from his stomach illness to dominate the field. Andrew Talansky and Lieuwe Westra are other talented time trial specialists whose form has been affected by illness.

Regardless, David Veilleux will not have an easy time trying to defend the leader's jersey.

 

Some of the other favorites over this mostly flat 32.5-kilometer course include: 

Chris Froome, Richie Porte, Alberto Contador (who says he is not in form enough yet to be competitive here), Jonathan Castroviejo, Stef Clement, Jerome Coppel, Dennis Rohan, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Michael Rogers, Marco Pinotti, Sylvain Chavanel and Michael Kwiatkowski—just to name a few.

Stage 4 ITT Race Route

 

You can see from the route map on the right that the course carves a bow-tie shape with not too many turns. Any one of at least twenty guys could win this one. Froome is probably the number-two favorite--though his Sky team have other options--but I would watch out for all three Omega Pharma specialists: Chavanel, Kwiatkowski, and the World Champion...

 ...my pick: Tony Martin

Other news:

*As Ag2R pulled themselves out of the Critérium du Dauphiné (respecting the Movement for Credible Cycling’s code of ethics) when their man Sylvain Georges tested positive for Heptaminol in the Giro d’Italia, so did Vini Fantini withdraw from Il Lombardia after Danilo Di Luca and Mauro Santambrogio’s recent adverse EPO tests.

 

For more insight on the MPCC check out: http://inrng.com/2013/05/who-sets-the-rules-mpcc-vs-uci/ 

*Brian Cookson announcement (British Cycling's candidate against Pat McQuaid for UCI President), manifesto coming:  http://www.briancookson.org/en/news/