Filippo Ganna wins Critérium du Dauphiné time-trial

World champion Filippo Ganna has confirmed his status as the pre-stage favourite by taking the win on the fourth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, beating Wout van Aert in a very close battle for the stage win.

The 32-kilometer long route was ideal for the specialists and the road saw some of the world's best time-trialists battle it out for the stage win - with the fight for the GC in the background pushing many to their limit. Luke Durbridge set an early strong time, but World champion Filippo Ganna quickly took over with 53 seconds of buffer.

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Not a huge gap, which saw the likes of Ethan Hayter and Mattia Cattaneo close it further and further down. Wout van Aert passed the first intermediate point in first place, however lost the lead on the second. The battle was very tight with both riders extremely close to each other towards the finale, however the Italian had the superior time as van Aert may have suffered from the small drops of rain that fell late in the day.

Van Aert extended his lead, however came away with another second place whilst Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard were the first riders to arrive from those who should be fighting for the first place of the GC.