Favorites and start times for stage 4 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné | The arm wrestling begins, Roglic with an advantage

It's time for this year's Critérium du Dauphiné time trial! And it's a hefty one—34 kilometers from Saint-Germain-Laval to Neulise. The course features a total of 375 meters of climbing, making it far from a flat ride.

For example, the road to Pinay includes a three-kilometer stretch that climbs at an average of four percent, but generally, it’s a constantly undulating route from start to finish. Pacing will be crucial in this test for the GC contenders.

Climbs
No categorized climbs.

Great! After a few less favorable days, it will be 24 degrees Celsius on Wednesday in the Neulise area, with a light tailwind. The weather should not significantly impact the day's proceedings.

Jensen Plowright from Alpecin-Deceuninck will be the first off the starting ramp at 1:46 PM, while yellow jersey holder Derek Gee will start last at 4:14 PM. About forty-five minutes later, we'll have a clearer picture of how the main GC contenders stack up. Below is a list of key riders to watch for both the stage victory and the overall classification:

1.49 PM: Joshua Tarling – INEOS Grenadiers
3.00 PM: Matteo Sobrero – Team Jayco-AlUla
3.30 PM: Neilson Powless – EF Education-EasyPost
3.39 PM: Ilan Van Wilder – Soudal-Quick Step
3.43 PM: Sepp Kuss – Visma | Lease a Bike

3.42 PM: Remco Evenepoel – Soudal-Quick Step
3.49 PM: Mikel Landa – Soudal-Quick Step
4.00 PM: Santiago Buitrago – Bahrain Victorious
4.01 PM: Juan Ayuso – UAE-Team Emirates
4.04 PM: Aleksandr Vlasov – BORA-hansgrohe

4.05 PM: Carlos Rodríguez – INEOS Grenadiers
4.08 PM: Bruno Armirail – Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
4.10 PM: Matteo Jorgenson – Visma | Lease a Bike
4.11 PM: Primoz Roglic – BORA-hansgrohe

The Critérium du Dauphiné will feature both the world champion and the European champion in time trialing, setting the stage for an exciting battle for the stage win. Both Remco Evenepoel (donning the rainbow jersey on behalf of Soudal Quick-Step) and Joshua Tarling (winner of the European title with INEOS Grenadiers) have had their challenges of late, so it's interesting to see how they are currently performing.

With this kind of elevation gain over this distance, we naturally also turn our attention to the stronger time-trialing general classification riders. Besides Evenepoel, there’s Primoz Roglic of BORA-hansgrohe, although some caution should be built in after his crash on Tuesday. However, if Roglic is in the same form as on the opening day of the Tour of the Basque Country, then everyone else better watch out.

Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe) and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) also excel in a race against the clock. On paper, Juan Ayuso is the best time trialist for UAE-Team Emirates, as he proved earlier this season in Tirreno-Adriatico. Additionally, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), Tim Wellens, Pavel Sivakov (UAE), Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) can all put in a solid time trial.

What about the specialists? Besides Tarling, there's the in-form Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R), as well as Magnus Cort (Uno-X), Matteo Sobrero (BORA-hansgrohe) and certainly also Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek. And what about leader Derek Gee, who continued his strong performance from his altitude training with a win on day three?

Top favorites: Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step)
Outsiders: Primoz Roglic, Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso (UAE-Team Emirates) and Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R) 
Long shots: Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), Mads Pedersen, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), Matteo Sobrero (BORA-hansgrohe), Magnus Cort (Uno-X), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) and Pavel Sivakov (UAE-Team Emirates)