The 26-year-old Monument winner was our top finisher on stage 4.
Wednesday afternoon, the Critérium du Dauphiné scheduled its shortest individual time trial in seven years, held over an undulating 16.4km course between Firminy and Roche-la-Molière, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It was a day that reshuffled the general classification, although the gaps between the yellow jersey favourites weren’t that big by the end of the stage, meaning that everything will be decided in the last three mountain days.
The last Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider to start the ITT, Kasper Asgreen had a good start and went through the day’s only checkpoint fifth-fastest, before upping the tempo in the second half of the course and making up ground as he averaged over 45km/h. A solid time of 21:45 put the Danish Champion into third place, for his fifth top 3 finish of the season, just a couple of seconds behind Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), who claimed the victory.
“It was a hard course and I was fighting all the way just to get the bike up to speed over the top of those small climbs and take advantage of the fast sections. It wasn’t enough, as there were some guys who were faster than me and also better climbers, so finishing third is a good result considering the circumstances. I am happy with how I paced myself, with the time trial I did and with where I am after four days of racing”, said Kasper after moving one place in the general classification, up to third, just a few seconds off the lead.
Photo credit: ©Bas Czerwinski / Getty Images
