Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 4: Tony Martin takes ITT, Rohan Dennis moves into race lead, Froome second overall

World champion Tony Martin of Omega Pharma-Quick Step pulled off a convincing win in the Stage 4 individual time trial at the Critérium du Dauphiné today, but it's Garmin-Sharp's Rohan Dennis who is in the race leader's maillot jaune this afternoon. Martin finished in 36 minutes 54 seconds, but began the day nearly 11 minutes off the overall lead. Dennis was 47 seconds down on Martin today, but leads the GC by 5 seconds from Team Sky's Chris Froome, who was third fastest, 5 seconds behind the Australian.

Froome's time of 37 minutes 46 seconds on the 32.5km course from Villars-les-Dombes to Parc des Oiseaux was 52 seconds down on Martin's, but more importantly puts him in a commanding position on GC, with rivals such as Alberto Contador, nearly 3 minutes behind the Briton today, losing big time - the Spaniard explaining afterwards that he was suffering from allergies.

All round, it was a good day for Sky, with four riders - Froome, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas - all getting into the top ten on the stage, and that quartet all feauture among the top six positions on GC, with overnight leader David Veilleux of Europcar dropping to seventh.

Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 4 result  
  
1  MARTIN Tony            Omega Pharma-Quick-Step   36:54:00
2  DENNIS Rohan           Garmin-Sharp                 00:47
3  FROOME Christopher     Sky Procycling               00:52
4  CASTROVIEJO Jonathan   Movistar Team                01:08
5  KWIATKOWSKI Michal     Omega Pharma-Quick-Step      01:13
6  BOASSON HAGEN Edvald   Sky Procycling               01:19
7  PORTE Richie           Sky Procycling               01:20
8  BARTA Jan Team         NetApp-Endura                01:36
9  PINOTTI Marco          BMC Racing Team              01:38
10 THOMAS Geraint         Sky Procycling               01:42
11 GRIVKO Andriy          Astana Pro Team              01:46
12 KONIG Leopold          Team NetApp-Endura           01:58
13 CLEMENT Stef           Blanco Pro Cycling Team      02:01
14 ROGERS Michael         Team Saxo-Tinkoff            02:17
15 NAVARRO Daniel         Cofidis Solutions Crédits    02:20
16 DE GENDT Thomas        Vacansoleil-DCM              02:25
17 MORENO Daniel          Katusha Team                 02:27
18 CHAVANEL Sylvain       Omega Pharma-Quick-Step      02:28
19 TAARAMäE Rein          Cofidis Solutions Crédits    02:32
20 TERUEL Eloy            Movistar Team                02:34
  
Overall standings after Stage 4  
  
1  DENNIS Rohan           Garmin-Sharp              12:40:00
2  FROOME Christopher     Sky Procycling               00:05
3  KWIATKOWSKI Michal     Omega Pharma-Quick-Step      00:26
4  BOASSON HAGEN Edvald   Sky Procycling               00:32
5  PORTE Richie           Sky Procycling               00:33
6  THOMAS Geraint         Sky Procycling               00:55
7  VEILLEUX David         Team Europcar                01:09
8  KONIG Leopold          Team NetApp-Endura           01:11
9  CLEMENT Stef           Blanco Pro Cycling Team      01:14
10 GRIVKO Andriy          Astana Pro Team              01:26