The season moves to the Ardennes with the opening Amstel Gold Race. There will only be this race and the Liege - Bastogne - Liege this year in the Ardennes week, so the hills specialists should try to maximize their opportunities. The route has also changed a bit for the Amstel Gold Race. It is still a very long and very hilly race but the finish line will no longer be at the top of the Cauberg but 1.5 kilometers afterwards, at the same place where Bjorn Leukemans won the World Championship 2 years ago.
The defending champion of the race is Janez Brajkovic, but the Slovenian seems to have dropped his performances in the hilly races considerably. In the opening edition it was Alberto Contador who took the win but it doesn't seem likely that the Spaniard will have a chance. It is therefore widely expected that we will have a new winner in Maastricht.
Favorites:
- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol): Two weeks have gone by since the disappointment that Leukemans had in the Ronde and he appears again as top favorite for a race. In this case it will be the Amstel Gold Race, the start of the Ardennes races, a very different race. Leukemans will be willing to improve on the two consecutive 3rd places that he has recorded so far.
- Simon Gerrans (Radioshack - Leopard): The second favorite I picked is Radioshack's Simon Gerrans. It is not strange to hear people saying that, compared to his ability, he is one of the main underachievers in the field. His best performance so far was the second place in the Giro di Lombardia last year. Other than that he has wins here and there but nothing major, so it is about time he adds something big to his wins.
- Philippe Gilbert (Radioshack - Leopard): Radioshack brings a great team to the Netherlands and another of the favorites will be Philippe Gilbert. The Belgian has been as disappeared as his teammate in the start of the season but he was signed by Radioshack to help Gerrans after he got the third place in Quebec last year. Radioshack should manage the expectations of the riders in order to succeed.
- Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Belisol): A similar problem will be faced by the Lotto manager. Both Leukemans and Vanendert have the potential to win after the Cauberg and are seeking for their first win of the year. With the emergence of Robert Kiserlovski as climber for the team the Belgian has focused a bit more on the classics, a difficult place to fit in with Leukemans well established.
Other notable riders that are among the favorites are Joost van Leijen (Vacansoleil - DMC), Davide Rebellin (Movistar Team), Dries Devenyns (BMC Racing), David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Andy Schleck (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) and Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha Team).
The Amstel Gold Race is always a continuous up and down the hills but a significant change happened this year in the route, as the finish line will no longer be at the top of the Cauberg, but around 1.5 kilometers afterwards. That will open the potential winners not only to uphill finishers but also to a potential small group sprint. The weather look nice at the start, it looks like the riders are being lucky with that in the classics.
The break of the day was formed almost in the first attempt. 5 riders were allowed to make way: Simon Clarke (HTC), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Radioshack), Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Astana), Samuel Dumoulin (Euskaltel) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Saxo Bank). They have a gap of 7' 45'' on the main bunch when finishing the first block of hills (120 km to go). In the bunch the responsibility to set a pace is on Vacansoleil and BMC.
The toughest part of the race is concentrated in the last 40 kilometers. The peloton got there losing 2' 15'' on the break, so the race was pretty much controlled. They got a not very nice surprise in terms of the rain, considering how good the day had looked in the morning. BMC decided to hand the front of the bunch to Vacansoleil and Lotto, who surprisingly had Van Leijen and Vanendert working for Mollema and Leukemans. I would have said that Mollema should be working for Van Leijen instead but it seems that the weight of Mollema in the team is very big.
The race started to get serious in the fourth hill from the finish. Bauke Mollema was the first attack by one of the strongest after Belkin had tried with Ruijgh and Poels. However, Simon Gerrans and Bjorn Leukemans were very aware of the situation and easily got past the Dutch. The early break was finally reeled back in with these attacks.
Gerrans and Leukemans were soon caught by a bigger group and another attack happened at that time. It was 6 very dangerous riders who joined ahead now: Frank Schleck, Bauke Mollema, Mikel Nieve, Jelle Vanendert, Rui Costa and David Lopez. The group opened a gap of 30 seconds with 15 kilometers remaining. The chasing group was made of only 35 riders and BMC was doing the main work in front. Among those left behind Hubert Dupont was the only important rider.
The penultimate hill was also interesting to decide the outcome of the race. Several riders attacked from the chasing group and caught those at front. At the end of it the front group had 16 riders in it, those who were going to fight for the final win after the Cauberg. Quickstep is the team with the numbers, as they have 3 riders, Brajkovic, Andy Schleck and Vansummeren. However, riders like Van Leijen, Gilbert and Nocentini did not make it to the front.
Chris Horner attacked before the Cauberg started and Rui Costa at the start of the climb but none of them could open a significant gap. However, Simon Gerrans' attack in the middle part of the climb was much more significant. With 2 kilometers remaining it does not look as anyone can follow the Australian. If a counterattack doesn't come soon it might be too late.
David Lopez and Rob Ruijgh managed to open a gap on the group as well, but it was already too late to catch Gerrans. As they went through the top of the hill the Australian was too far ahead to be caught. Behind them Andy Schleck also tried to break away but he didn't have the legs to open a gap. It will be interesting to see if Lopez and Ruijgh can hold to their small gap in the final kilometer.
Simon Gerrans wins in Valkenburg! If we said in the presentation of the race that it was about time that the Australian delivered a major win, it could not be a better timing. Gerrans was fair and square the strongest in the race and he proved it by opening a gap of 38 seconds on his chasers in the last climb. The podium will be completed by David Lopez in the second place and Rob Ruijgh in the third.
Lotto was slightly disappointing today, as their leading duo could only be 6th (Leukemans) and 7th (Vanendert). They couldn't match Mikel Nieve and Frank Schleck in the final sprint in the main group of favorites. The award for trying hard goes to Bauke Mollema, 11th in the end, but one has to wonder whether this was the right strategy for Vacansoleil. Joost van Leijen seemed to be a much clearer option for them.
The third and last monument of the year is the Liege - Bastogne - Liege. The Belgian race is the hardest of the Ardennes classic, mainly because the hills are harder and longer than in the Amstel Gold Race. The route start south from Liege towards the forests in the south, where most of the hills are, before turning north through a tougher route. The most famous climbs in the last kilometers are La Redoute, Roche aux Faucons, St. Nicholas and the final hill in Ans, where the finish line is placed.
The race has traditionally been decided through solo attacks or small groups that make it to the final hill. Bjorn Leukemans won two years ago with a gap of 49 seconds over Frank Schleck and Davide Rebellin. The other winner in the story was Dries Devenyns, so only Belgians have won this monument.
Favorites:
- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol): The Benelux classics are about to finish and Bjorn Leukemans has not been able to win any of them. Considering he was the top favorite in all of them it cannot be said that he has had a good performance so far. The problem for him is that his peak of form might be fading away, while the riders that prepared the Ardennes specifically are on top of it. However, Leukemans is the defending champion of the race and he will like to do well at home.
- Simon Gerrans (Radioshack - Leopard): We gave Gerrans a hard time while presenting the Amstel Gold Race demanding that he never had had a win according to his talent. He seemed to have read it because we cannot say that anymore. The Australian is on a great spot to claim his first monument in Liege, so we'll see if his luck continues and he makes it two in a row.
- Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Belisol): We saw Vanendert work for Leukemans in the Amstel Gold Race, but he also ended up finishing just in front of his fellow Belgian. It is difficult to predict what will happen in Liege, but Vanendert showed that he has the legs to aim at least for a podium.
- Philippe Gilbert (Radioshack - Leopard): Gilbert didn't really have a good race in Valkenburg. He lost contact with the group of the favorites in the penultimate climb and that killed his opportunities to shine. It was a shame for him because he is the man with Nocentini and Joaquim Rodriguez that has a better kick up the hills and the final climb to the Cauberg suits him well. The Liege is probably better suited in the team for his leader Gerrans.
Other notable riders that will be in the start in Liege will be Joost van Leijen (Vacansoleil - DMC), Dries Devenyns (BMC Racing), Andy Schleck and Janez Brajkovic (Omega Pharma - Quickstep), Davide Rebellin (Movistar Team) and Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha Team).
La Doyenne will be the closing race of the classics season and its route is essentially the same that has been raced in the past. All the important climbs will be there, Stockeau, la Redoute, Roche aux Faucons and Saint Nicholas. The final hill in Ans is not officially marked as a climb but it will nevertheless be slightly more than 1 kilometer of uphill finish to decide the winner if a small group makes it to the finish together.
The break of the day was easily formed in the first kilometers of the day. It was a group of 7 riders including Geraint Thomas (HTC), Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel), Mark Renshaw (Discovery) and Miguel Angel Rubiano (Ag2r). Once they got past Bastogne the bunch started decreasing their lead and 120 kilometers to the finish line it sits at 7' 45''. In the peloton, Johan Vansummeren and Bart de Clercq attack in the Mur de Saint Roch and are trying to bridge the gap to the break but they have a big task ahead of them.
Bart de Clercq and Johan Vansummeren did manage to bridge the gap to the early break once the final succession of hills had started. However, they found out that none of the other riders in there would collaborate with them, as they were far too good for them to compete. On the main bunch the battles had also started and a group of only around 40 riders remained in front. Devenyns, Gilbert and Frank Schleck had lost contact due to the narrow roads in one of the hills and were working hard to rejoin the main group.
Some serious attacks happened in the climb to Mont-Theux, as Rob Ruijgh and Tony Gallopin both tried to attack from the main group. However, Frank Schleck quickly closed the gap as he had joined along with other riders that had previously lost contact. Radioshack seemed to have the race nicely controlled at this point of the race. The gap of the leading riders has come down to 2' 35'' at 48 kilometers from the finish line.
Tony Gallopin, Simone Ponzi and Hubert Dupont did manage to open a gap in the flat at the top of Mont-Theux and reached La Redoute within reach of the early break. However, with 35 kilometers still to be raced their gap to the group of favorites was a meager 20 seconds. Philippe Gilbert and Janez Brajkovic are setting the pace, which is not especially slow in the tough climb in Aywaille.
Everyone was back together at the start of the Roche aux Faucons, 18 kilometers to the finish. It looks that it was the climb that Andy Schleck had marked to attack, as he tried it twice. However, it was Bjorn Leukemans and Simon Gerrans themselves who jumped to neutralize those attacks. A group of 24 riders remained at front as several rather big names like Jelle Vanendert, Joost van Leijen and Rob Ruijgh had lost contact.
The small second part of the Faucons saw Bjorn Leukemans attack and break away from the favorites group. The race is completely broken as the Belgian leads with only 10 kilometers remaining. However, he only has a gap of 8 seconds on Simon Gerrans, who is closing in on him fast. Behind them, Davide Rebellin is losing 30 seconds and a group of 6 (Devenyns, Gilbert, A. Schleck, Costa, Ponzi and Brajkovic) is 45 seconds behind Leukemans.
Gerrans caught Leukemans soon afterwards and there was no understanding between them to work. That meant that the favorites group coming behind reached them easily. The last official climb was Saint Nicholas. Only Rui Costa seriously tried to attack there, but he was far from having enough energy to go solo. At the top of the climb it seems like Brajkovic is suffering but other than that the race is going to be decided in the final uphill kilometer.
The nine of them do reach the start of the Ans hill together and it is Bjorn Leukemans who starts the final sprint first. However, Simon Gerrans seems to be quite strong as he was last Sunday and passes him next to the fences. Dries Devenyns is also progressing on the left. Another rider that can be quite dangerous it he has any strength left is Simone Ponzi, as the Italian is a great sprinter.
Simon Gerrans looks the fastest of all and if no one finds a miracle is going to take back to back wins in the Ardennes. Bjorn Leukemans is not looking too good but is still holding to the second place ahead of Dries Devenyns and Andy Schleck. On the back of the group Janez Brakjovic and Philippe Gilbert are losing contact after working hard for their leaders.
Simon Gerrans wins in Liege! A tremendous week for the Australian, who takes his first monument and enters by right in the history. Gerrans knew when to leave his teammates do the job and when to go himself after the attacks to finish the strongest in the hill of Ans. This leaves Bjorn Leukemans second of the day and with no wins in the whole springs classics season. This had not happened since 2011.
The third today was for Dries Devenyns. The podium will therefore be formed by the three last champions in Ans. Andy Schleck was fourth and Davide Rebellin fifth. The result today is the best for BMC in the classics and they have narrowly kept the top spot in the World Tour rankings ahead of the season break until Dauphine, while David Lopez will keep his first place in the riders classification even after not racing here.
A couple of months have gone by since the Liege - Bastogne - Liege and the teams are meeting again for a very different race. The Criterium du Dauphine will be the only preparation race for the Tour this year, so all the riders that will have an important role in the Tour will be at the start in Champery. The route of the race will be, as always, very mountainous but we are missing a really hard stage like the ones seen in the previous years, like the finish in Saint-Francois Longchamps. The mountain-top finishes this year will be in Valmorel, Superdevoluy and Risoul.
In terms of the riders that have done well in the past here, they all are very important in the story. In only two years, three Grand Tour winners have been in the podium of the race: Hubert Dupont, Pieter Weening and Bauke Mollema. Mollema is the defending champion of the race and will be looking forward to winning again. However, he will have plenty of adversaries that will make the task difficult especially considering that his main target is the Tour.
Favorites:
- Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team): Tejay has only raced the Amstel Gold race since he won the last time trial in the Tirreno - Adriatico. However, the Dauphine and the Tour will be his highlights of the season and he seems to be well prepared for both of them. The fact that makes him top favorite is probably the fact that there is a 33 kilometers flat time trial in the fourth day of the race that suits him perfectly.
- Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC): Bauke Mollema was in the two Ardennes races and, even though he has stated that he will be in the Dauphine only as a preparation race for the Tour he has to be one of the main favorites. The Dutch has the best recovery among all of the top riders, so watch for him in the last two mountain stages.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): The Spaniard did great in the hills of the Netherlands to get a second place in the Cauberg, what shows how versatile he is. He is currently leading the World Tour rankings and that will be a boost to his morale, as he will be keen to arrive in the Tour as the leader of that classification. However, the long time trial could hurt his chances somewhat.
- Rob Ruijgh (Belkin Pro Cycling): Rob Ruijgh attitude for the race should be pretty similar to Lopez's, as he will also lose time in the time trial. However, he has the leader role in his team for the race as it is expected that he will work for Hubert Dupont in the Tour de France.
Other notable riders at the start of the Dauphine will be Cadel Evans (Movistar Team), Juanjo Cobo (Sky Procycling), Peter Stetina and Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing Team), Robert Gesink (Belkin Pro Cycling) and Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale Pro Cycling).
Even though they will not have a clear chance, the best sprinters in the Dauphine are Marcel Kittel (Discovery Channel), Ben Swift (Sky Procycling), Andre Greipel (Radioshack - Leopard), Kenny van Hummel (Belkin ProCycling), Tyler Farrar (Team Saxo - Tinkoff) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (HTC - Highroad).
A very short stage of only 120 kilometers will serve as opener of the Criterium du Dauphine 2014. The route is circular, starting and finishing in the Swiss town of Champery. The route is quite tough and the riders will have to tackle 4 climbs, the hardest of them the Col du Corbier halfway through the stage. With a difficult route and a short distance the time limit could be relevant for the weakest riders in the mountains, especially considering there are quite a few sprinters here trying to gain form for the Tour.
The Cote de Morgins was only in the kilometer 13 of today's stage but it was enough for the break of the day to go away. It had only 4 riders, as Radioshack wouldn't allow for a bigger group to go away. They were Michael Matthews (Garmin), Jure Kocjan (Discovery), Simon Clarks (HTC) and Oscar Freire (Belkin). There was a good fight for the mountain's points and Matthews ended up taking the first place as the group had a gap of 2' 40'' on the bunch already.
The most difficult climb of the day was the Col du Corbier, which top was 44 kilometers from the finish. Radioshack was setting a pace that slowly but stadily was dropping riders out the back of the pack. At the front of the race Jure Kocjan won the sprint for the points as the break was still 2' 45'' ahead. In the main bunch Andy Schleck was first under the KoM banner, Vanendert also attacked and Radioshack and Vacansoleil were trying to bring them all back together at the start of the descent.
An attack of three riders: Jelle Vanendert, Jose Serpa and Tiago Machado meant that the peloton had to chase hard in the flat between the climbs. As they reached the intermediate sprint in La Chapalle-d'Abondance (29 kilometers to go) Machado and Serpa had dropped Vanendert and were 40 seconds ahead of the bunch. The break still had 2 minutes on them. In the bunch Quickstep was joining the chase.
The climb to the Pas de Morgins from side where it was descended earlier in the race was very entertaining. In the front group Jure Kocjan attacked on his own and had 10 seconds on Clarke and Matthews at the top. 25 seconds behind the Slovenian were a group of 4: Serpa, Machado, Vanendert and Freire. In the main bunch it was Cadel Evans (in the picture) who launched the hardest attack. He opened a gap of 15 seconds on a group of around 60 chasers. The only casualty of the day among the favorites was Bjorn Leukemans, who seemed to take the day off.
The long descent saw the front group regrouping and a couple of riders joining from behind. A total of 10 riders were together at the final part, but BMC had taken the head of the main bunch and they were about to be caught. That was the moment when Evans and Froome attacked from the front group and opened a gap. They were followed by Stefano Garzelli and, with 5 kilometers remaining, the Italian was 15 seconds behind and the main group is losing 1' 20''. It looks like they are not considered dangerous for the GC and will be allowed to fight for the stage.
Stefano Garzelli managed to bridge the gap to the leading duo but Cadel Evans attacked straight away and as they are entering the last kilometer of the stage has a small gap on Froome and Garzelli. It looks like they were waiting for the final sprint and the attack caught them unaware. In the bunch an attack by Rui Costa and Levi Leipheimer was quickly reeled back in and it looks like the important men are leaving their battles for tougher days.
Cadel Evans wins in Champery! The Australian given the first win of the year to the Movistar team and will wear the yellow jersey for at least one day. He finished ahead of Chris Froome and Stefano Garzelli, who in the end were given the same time as him. We have to go back to the 2010 Vuelta a España to see the last win by Cadel Evans. During this time he has been always a good rider but with bad luck in terms of wins.
50 riders made it home in the main group, where Hubert Dupont tried a late attack to gain a few seconds in the GC. However, he did not succeed. That reduced the gap of the winner to 1' 08''. The stage had no surprises, as all favorites comfortably arrived in that group. After all the climbing today, the mountains' jersey will go to Jure Kocjan.
The second stage of the Dauphine is catalogued as flat, but it must be in the limit to be considered hilly, as there are 5 climbs in the final 60 kilometers of the stage that will make a final sprint rather difficult. The most likely outcome is maybe something similar to yesterday, when a small group of riders that are not the big favorites makes it to the finish ahead.
After the first 10 kilometers of the stage, when the main bunch aborted quite a few breaks due to the big number of riders, the stage became rather dull. A group of 4 went away rather early in the stage, while Radioshack and Sky controlled that their gap never grew considerably. The 4 riders were Fredrik Kessiakoff (Euskaltel), Rein Taaramae (Katusha), Thomas Voeckler (Garmin) and Cameron Meyer (Quickstep). Halfway through the stage they had 6' 40'' on the main bunch.
The intermediate sprint was located in Montanges (47 kilometers to the finish line), but only Dani Moreno seemed keen to take the points on offer. The sprinters probably know that their chances of fighting for it are slim at best and would rather focus on keeping their strength for other targets. The break had a gap of 3' 10'' on the main bunch at the start of the hardest part of the stage.
The Cote de Communal was the hardest climb of the day and Radioshack decided to increase the pace with Gerrans and Cunego at the beginning. However, Greipel started to look not so good and they had to lower their pace. This meant that the break still had 3 minutes at the top, increasing their chances in the stage. Surprisingly there was no fight for the mountain points, although only two were left for the bunch.
Bjorn Leukemans launched a very hard attack shortly before the Cote de Bugnon and he managed to bridge the gap to the break in that climb. Bauke Mollema also tried to attack afterwards but then all the favorites reacted. However, David Lopez attacked right after that and he did manage to open a gap with the bunch. At the top of the climb, with 22 kilometers remaining, the break had 25 seconds on David Lopez and 1' 05'' on the peloton.
David Lopez managed to catch the break as well, but Leukemans had already gone solo by that time and, even though Fredrik Kessiakoff worked for him, the bunch managed to reel them back in between the last two climbs. Even Mikel Nieve was chasing in the front of the main bunch, probably testing himself for the Tour. There was a pause in the bunch after the catching and Leukemans managed to open the gap to 1' 10'' at the bottom of the Col du Sentier.
Discovery was in front with Mikel Nieve during almost all the climb to the Col du Sentier but they were only able to cut Leukemans' lead by a few seconds. The Belgian still had 50 seconds with 10 kilometers of descent in front of him. It is going to be very hard for the sprinters to take something out of this stage because the last kilometers have been raced at a high speed.
Bjorn Leukemans reaches the entrance of Oyonnax with enough an advantage over the pack to win today's stage. There were attempts to attack in the main bunch in the descent by riders like David Lopez and Pierre Rolland but none of them were successful. The bunch is forming a very long line in the descent and gaps could be opened if the riders are not careful.
Bjorn Leukemans wins in Oyonnax! The Belgian takes revenge for his lack of wins in the spring classics by taking the first win for Lotto in the season. Emanuele Sella attacked already inside of Oyonnax from the main bunch but Leukemans had the stage completely controlled by then. The Italian took the second place in the stage.
There were no time differences awarded with the bunch, but Leukemans was far away in the GC anyway. Sacha Modolo took the third place in the stage with Daniel Moreno and Peter Sagan completing the top 5. It looks like the Spaniard from Euskaltel will be fighting for the points' jersey and he will wear it tomorrow as Evans will be again in yellow.
The third stage of the Criterium du Dauphine is probably the easiest of this year's route. It takes the riders to the west again, from Amberieu-en-Bugey to Tarare. However, a mass sprint is by no means guaranteed today. The route is fairly flat for most of the stage but the climbs to the Col des Echarmeaux and the Col des Sauvages will give the chance to the late attacks. The latter one has its top at only 9 kilometers from the finish line, so it will be difficult to cut the lead if someone gets to the top with a handful of seconds.
Radioshack and Discovery were very keen on not letting a big break go away and only 3 riders formed the break of the day: Jeremy Roy (Ag2r), Michal Kwiatkowski (Garmin) and Bradley Wiggins (Katusha). It looks like some teams want at least one mass sprint. The break had a gap on the peloton of 6 minutes after a very quiet first half of the stage.
The main bunch started to quickly bring the gap down and they made it to the intermediate sprint in Cublize (25 kilometers to go) 2 minutes behind the leaders. Peter Sagan seemed as the only rider keen to take some points but was blocked by the Discovery Channel men in front of the pack and only got 5 points. Meanwhile, one of the favorites for the stage, Lloyd Mondory, suffered a puncture in the descent and was trying to join the peloton again.
The last climb of the day, the Col de Sauvages, seemed like it was not going to be relevant but Jurgen van den Broeck attacked in the last kilometer of the climb and dragged some of the favorites, like Mollema and David Lopez with him. At the top of the climb Roy and Wiggins had 12 seconds on Lopez, Stetina, Mollema, Kwiatkowski and Van den Broeck. The peloton, driven by Discovery, was losing 40 seconds.
Only Peter Stetina survived at the front after attacking at the start of the descent. The pace by Discovery and Sky in the beginning of the descent reeled everyone else back to the peloton. The American is descending very fast and with only 4 kilometers remaining he can already see the town of Tarare in the distance. He is 20 seconds so it will be a close call. Meanwhile, Hubert Dupont tried to open a gap in the bunch but could not.
The main bunch reaches the entrance of Tarare but still way behind Peter Stetina. It looks like the stage win is going to be for the American. Jure Kocjan is the last man from Discovery working for Marcel Kittel, who has Modolo behind. However, it looks like it is going to be a sprint for the second place. Also well positioned are Simon Gerrans and Elia Viviani.
Peter Stetina wins in Tarare! We have had three stages in the Dauphine and the three of them have been won by a late attack. With this win, his third of the season, Stetina is now tied with the most wins in the season with Simone Ponzi and David Lopez. In the sprint for the second place it was Sacha Modolo who won ahead of Elia Viviani, Peter Sagan and Alexander Kristoff.
The stage didn't make any difference in the GC other than gifting 10 bonus seconds to Peter Stetina. However, that could be important tomorrow, as he has secured the 4th to last starting spot and will know all the intermediate references. The points' competition will be hot as well, now with Evans and Modolo tied at the front. However, it is difficult to see where the Italian will take points in the remaining stages.
A quite long and completely flat time trial test will be the fourth stage of the Dauphine. It will be by far the longest time trial this season so far and the GC should be turned upside down today. Apart from the stage win, it will be interesting to see if the like of Froome and Evans will be able to hold the lead they currently have in the GC mostly against Tejay van Garderen and Marco Pinotti.
Michael Rogers (Saxo Bank) was the first rider that could be considered a benchmark for the top time trialists. The Australian was 93rd in the GC before the stage and comfortably beat the best time so far, set by Geraint Thomas, by 31 seconds. His final time was 45' 32''.
Marcel Kittel took off 19 seconds from the best set by Michael Rogers before the main favorite for the stage, Cameron Meyer (Quickstep) arrived. The Australian was 6 seconds ahead of Kittel in the second intermediate point but surprisingly lost time in the last sector and finished 1 second behind the German. This is a big blow for Meyer in the first serious test of the season against the clock.
Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) was the next favorite for the stage to depart. He was 56th in the GC and more than three minutes down before the stage. He improved the best time in the second sector by Cameron Meyer and even though he lost time in the last part of the time trial against Kittel he put himself at the top of the time sheets, albeit only 1 second faster than the German.
The BMC show in the time trial started with Marco Pinotti. The Italian is the second best time trialist in the team, but managed to place himself in the 4th place provisionally, only 11 seconds behind the best time by Westra. This will put him high in the GC, as he had not lost any time to the favorites in the first stages.
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) started in the 11th place of the GC and had the mission of trying to get the leaders' jersey today and put as much time as possible between himself and the likes of Mollema, Nieve or Ruijgh. He was even better than expected and managed to improve on Westra's time by 34 seconds. Cadel Evans will have to be very fast to defend his leader's jersey today.
Emanuelle Sella (Astana) was 5th before the time trial after he got some bonus seconds after finishing second to Bjorn Leukemans in the second stage. However, the stage today really did not suit him and he lost 2' 54'' against Van Garderen in the finish line. This will take him out of the picture in the GC for good, as he is not expected to make an impact in the mountains.
Yesterday's winner, Peter Stetina (BMC), was the next to depart. The American had the reference of his teammate, but he knew that he could not get close to it. Nevertheless, his time trial was not bad, as he set the 21st provisional time. He lost 1' 37'' to Van Garderen and, barring any misfortune by the riders that are yet to arrive that will put him just outside the top 10 in the GC.
Stefano Garzelli (Lampre) was not very happy with the long time trial at the start of the day and he had a reason to. The Italian only managed to set the 50th best time, 2' 10'' behind Van Garderen and will drop to 7th in the GC, tied with Bauke Mollema and Tiago Machado. Nevertheless, the time he won in the first stage helped him offset the time lost in this time trial with most of the favorites.
Chris Froome (Sky) was the penultimate rider on the road. The British already won the Tour de Suisse a couple of years ago by winning the time trial, so he is looking for a good performance. At the second intermediate he lost 43 seconds to Van Garderen and that grew to 1' 06'' in the finish line. However, he had done enough to remain in front of Van Garderen in the GC. He could even be the leader depending on what Evans does.
Cadel Evans (Movistar) was last to start on the yellow jersey. However, he could not successfully defend it. He finished 16th in today's stage 1' 29'' behind Van Garderen and that will leave him 3rd in the GC 19 seconds behind the new leader, Chris Froome. Nevertheless, Evans will have one of his best chances lately to finish in the top 10 of a one week race, something he did last when he was 2nd in the Volta a Catalunya 2011.
The favorites for the GC that are currently outside of the top 10 are: Peter Stetina 11th, +1' 35''; Juanjo Cobo 12th, +1' 36''; Laurens Ten Dam 16th, +1' 41''; Robert Gesink 25th, +1' 58''; David Lopez 26th, +1' 59'' and Rob Ruijgh 29th, +2' 13''.
, lets hope he can do the same at Liege 
