Filippo Ganna wins the time trial with Primož Roglič among strong GC performers.

Yesterday, David Gaudu lurked in Wout van Aert’s shadow before lunging into the light at the right moment to snag the stage three victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

In perceived retribution, Wout van Aert spent the entirety of his 35 and a half minute time trial effort on stage four trying to chase down the Frenchman who so rudely thwarted him the day before.

To the naked, non-cycling eye, Gaudu once again emerged on top, crossing the line just ahead of the Belgian yellow jersey. Yet that was because Van Aert had almost closed the two-minute gap between the two riders’ departure from the start hut 31.9 km away back down the road.

In the real race Van Aert also lost, by just two seconds, to world time trial champion Filippo Ganna. The Italian averaged .051 km/h more than Van Aert to clock an average speed of 53.865 km/h on the mostly flat parcours and deliver victory to Ineos Grenadiers.

The British team also occupied the third spot on the podium courtesy of Ethan Hayter. The Brit was only 17 seconds adrift of his teammate’s winning time, and that was despite losing his visor over the speedbumps in the opening kilometres and the wind subsequently moving his contact lenses about to make for a blurry ride from Montbrison to La Bâtie d’Urfé.

Quick-Step AlphaVinyl’s Mattia Cattaneo finished fourth, moving himself up to second overall, just ahead of Jumbo-Visma’s Primož Roglič who moves up to third on GC, 56 seconds in arrears to his teammate Van Aert.

Roglič’s co-leader for the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard, was a further 30 seconds slower than the Slovenian in the race of truth, while Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates) all accomplished top 10 placings to move into the upper echelons of the overall leaderboard.

“A long day but in the end it’s important no-one [else] stood up to this seat,” Ganna said after an impossibly long stint in the hot seat, forced to wait and watch as none of his rivals managed to beat his time. “Wout was really close but luckily I won.”

“A little bit,” Ganna said of whether he was worried Van Aert would go faster. “Every time we are close.” Instead, the Belgian picks up another second place in consecutive days to add to a long list of painful runner-up spots he’s acquired so far in his career.

With an opening day time trial in Copenhagen featuring at the upcoming French Grand Tour, Ganna’s inclusion could prove to be Ineos’ only chance at a yellow jersey if a certain Slovenian duopoly prevails for another edition.

“We will see if I’m in Copenhagen or not,” Ganna said, keeping his team’s cards close to his chest.

“It’s going okay, definitely I’m not at my best but I need these kinds of things to improve,” Roglič offered up after the finish. “I would say mentally good, definitely. I’m pleased with the performance, I pushed myself, I’m happy with it.”

Roglič will definitely be on the start line in Copenhagen, and with the race fast approaching is also reticent to say too much as he plans another assault on the yellow jersey.

“That we will see there, huh?” he said of how his form is building towards Denmark. “But definitely these kinds of things will help me and this is part of the preparation towards the Tour.”

Critérium du Dauphiné (2.UWT) Montbrison → La Bâtie d’Urfé