Stage 4 of the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine took place on Wednesday and challenged the riders to a time trial battle on a 17.4-kilometer route from Charmes-sur-Rhone to Saint-Peray. The time trial stage would feature a 1.8-kilometer climb mid-stage, which had a gradient of 8.5 percent that could potentially distort the pace and rhythm of the fastest time trial experts. 

General classification favorites, such as Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, and Jonas Vingegaard were expected to dominate the stage as the riders competed on roads near the Rhone River.

Domen Novak was the first rider to leave the start ramp in Charmes-sur-Rhone. The rider from UAE Team Emirates started his time trial in sunny weather conditions with temperatures around 29 degrees Celsius. 

Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), Michael Hepburn (Jayo-Alula), Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), Poul Ourselin (Cofidis Team), and other riders also started their time trials and Soren Waerenskjold proved the fastest man and entered the hot seat. But many other riders were yet to leave the start ramp.

Time trial expert Tobias Foss left the start ramp and appeared to be having a strong day in the time trial saddle. The Norwegian rider had climbed the mid-stage hill well and set a new fastest time at intermediate timing point 1. Foss also set a new fastest time when he crossed the finish line in Saint-Peray and took over the hot seat. Ineos-Grenadiers teammate Michael Leonard also had a good day on his time trial bike and clocked the second-fastest time at the finish line.

Remi Cavagna started his time trial. The French rider from team Groupama-FDJ was known for his great time trial skills and had been nicknamed the TGV train from Clermont-Ferrand. Cavagna was racing relatively close to home in today’s time trial and was expected to deliver his best possible performance in the hot weather conditions of the Ardeche region.

While Cavagna was busy racing his time trial, Thibaut Guernalec got close to setting a new fastest finishing time for his Arkea B & B Hotels team. Guernalec, however, finished nine seconds behind Foss, but was second-fastest – though with many riders yet to start their time trials.

American Sepp Kuss left the start ramp and had possibly been instructed to deliver a fine performance, which could be used as pace and timing preparation for Visma-Lease a Bike team captain Jonas Vingegaard.

Remi Cavagna had diamonds in his legs during today’s stage 4 time trial of Criterium du Dauphine and blast across the finish line in Saint-Peray in a new fastest time. The Frenchman could now recover in the hot seat, while hoping no other rider would fare better than he had done.

Sepp Kuss set the fifth-best time at Intermediate Timing Point 1. Meanwhile, Maximilian Schachmann started his time trial, and the Soudal-QuickStep rider would gather valuable pace data for team captain Remco Evenepoel.

Frenchman Romain Bardet started the final time trial of his professional cyclist career. Bardet was wearing the Picnic-PostNL team colors when he left the start ramp this time.

With other riders yet to finish their time trials, the top 20 riders from the general classification were the next and final riders to start their time trials. Quite a few of them were good at the time trial discipline.

American Matteo Jorgenson set a new fastest time at Intermediate Timing Point 1. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was an excellent time trial rider and was also expected to be included in the Visma-Lease a bike team roster for the 2025 Tour de France.

Time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel left the start ramp. The Belgian rider was the favorite to take the stage victory in today’s time trial. Evenepoel was riding the time trial on his golden Specialized S-Works time trial bike and wearing a golden helmet as Olympic time trial champion – a title he secured on the streets of Paris last year.

Jonas Vingegaard started his time trial. The time trial would be crucial preparation and an important test for the Visma-Lease a Bike rider, who was expected to lead the team’s line-up in this year’s Tour de France.

Matteo Jorgensen set a new fastest time when he crossed the finish line. The Visma rider was almost 29 seconds faster than Cavagna, who bid the hot seat adieu.

Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) also started their time trials as did Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Florian Lipowitz (Team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). 

GC leader Ivan Romeo was the final rider to leave the start ramp. The Movistar rider was wearing a yellow skinsuit as defending leader of the general classification following his great courage and impressive performance in yesterday’s stage.

Remco Evenepoel blast past Intermediate timing point 1 as the new fastest rider. The time trial world champion was more than thirty seconds faster than Jorgenson and more than a minute faster than Remi Cavagna.

Vingegaard spent approximately eleven seconds more on his Cervelo time trial bike than Evenepoel before the Dane reached Intermediate Timing Point 1. Pogacar crossed the line at Intermediate Timing Point 1 approximately thirty seconds slower than Evenepoel. 

Remco Evenepoel crossed the finish line in Saint-Peray in a new best time, which rendered him the new leader of the time trial stage. The Belgian rider appeared to be in top form before the coming Tour de France.

Jonas Vingegaard proved unable to better Evenepoel’s time when he reached Saint-Peray. The Visma-Lease a Bike team captain finished almost 21 seconds behind Evenepoel. 

Florian Lipowitz clocked the fifth-best time at Intermediate Timing Point 1 and the German rider was expected to be included in the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe line-up for the Tour de France.

Tadej Pogacar finished his time trial almost 49 seconds slower than leader Remco Evenepoel. Both Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson were also faster than Pogacar in today’s time trial. The result might be cause for concern for UAE Team Emirates, Pogacar, and his coach.

Despite an admirable effort on his bike, Ivan Romeo was unable to defend his general classification lead in today’s time trial.

No other rider proved able to deliver a faster finishing time than Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian Time Trial World Champion from Team Soudal-QuickStep won the stage 4 time trial of the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine in 00:20:50 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson.

“We had a perfect plan and pacing strategy and I am very happy to have won the stage. I am feeling pretty good, and I have been working super hard behind the scenes on my preparation for the Tour de France,” stage winner Remco Evenepoel told Roadcycling.com after the stage. 

“Hopefully we can get though tomorrow’s stage safely and then we can focus on the mountain stages of the weekend. I am feeling good in the flat sections, in the climbs, and on the downhills as well. I will take it day by day from now, while hoping to finish the race on the top spot of the podium,” Evenepoel explained.

“Remco Evenepoel is the best time trialist in the world, so I am happy not to lose more time to him, while also beating Tadej Pogacar at the same time. Of course it is always better to be in front, but now I have some time to make up and we’ve seen in past years how easy it is to make up time in the mountains,” Jonas Vingegaard explained to Roadcycling.com.

Remco Evenepoel leads the Criterium du Dauphine general classification ahead of Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson, Tadej Pogacar, and Florian Lipowitz.

Thursday’s stage 5 of Criterium du Dauphine will be a 183-kilometer stage in relatively mountainous terrain on a route from Saint-Priest to Macon, known for its floral white wines. The second half of the stage will include three Category 3 climbs and one Category 4 climb. 

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine.