Filippo Ganna fastest at Criterium du Dauphine Time Trial

World champion Filippo Ganna has confirmed his status as the favorite for the Tour de France Time Trial after beating Wout van Aert in a very close battle who extended his GC lead

The 32-kilometer long route was ideal for the specialists and the stage saw many of the world's best time-trialists battle it out for the stage win, with the fight for the GC placesin the background pushing many to their limits.

Luke Durbridge set an early quickest time, but World champion Filippo Ganna quickly took over with 53 seconds lead in a time of 35m 32s.

Ethan Hayter and Mattia Cattaneo closed it down, but it was Wout van Aert who passed the first intermediate time checkin first place who looked to be the only challenger.

The battle was tight with both riders extremely close to each other towards the finale, however the Italian had the superior time with van Aert being affected by light rain on the run into the finish.

Van Aert extended his lead and came away with 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.

VIDEO: 2022 Criterium du Dauphine Stage 4 Highlights

2022 Criterium du Dauphine Stage 4 Top 10

1 GANNA Filippo INEOS Grenadiers 35:32
2 VAN AERT Wout Jumbo-Visma 0:02
3 HAYTER Ethan INEOS Grenadiers 0:17
4 CATTANEO Mattia Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 0:39
5 ROGLIC Primož Jumbo-Visma 0:42
6 DURBRIDGE Luke Team BikeExchange - Jayco 0:53
7 VINGEGAARD Jonas Jumbo-Visma 1:12
8 CARUSO Damiano Bahrain - Victorious 1:25
9 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao INEOS Grenadiers 1:31
10 AYUSO Juan UAE Team Emirates 1:34

2022 Criterium du Dauphine GC after Stage 4

1 VAN AERT Wout Jumbo-Visma 13:26:06
2 CATTANEO Mattia Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 0:53
3 ROGLIC Primož Jumbo-Visma 0:56
4 VINGEGAARD Jonas Jumbo-Visma 1:26
5 HAYTER Ethan INEOS Grenadiers 1:26
6 CARUSO Damiano Bahrain - Victorious 1:39
7 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao INEOS Grenadiers 1:45
8 AYUSO Juan UAE Team Emirates 1:48
9 JORGENSON Matteo Movistar Team 1:50
10 O'CONNOR Ben AG2R Citroën Team 2:00