Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took a surprise but resounding victory in the 26.1km individual time trial west of Roanne, stage 4 at the Critérium du Dauphiné, confirming yet again that he is far more than a cyclo-cross and Classics rider. The racing was overshadowed by the news of Chris Froome's high-speed crash during his late-morning recon ride on the course, with riders in shock to hear that the Team Ineos leader suffered a suspected fractured femur and so was out of the Tour de France. Van Aert rider set a time of 33:38 for the out and back course that included a climb mid-way, beating Tejay van Garderen by 31 seconds, with Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) third at 47 seconds as the Dutchman continued to recover from the knee injury he suffered on stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia.ADVERTISEMENT Van Aert rode the time trial in the green points jersey after his third place on stage 1 and second place on stage 3. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) finished sixth, at 53 seconds and took the race leader's yellow jersey from Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida). However, the overall classification remains wide open, with Teuns second at four seconds, with van Garderen third overall at six seconds and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) fourth at seven seconds. Van Aert's victory moved him up 11 places in the general classification to ninth place at 30 seconds. The 24-year-old Belgian gave Jumbo-Visma their 24th season victory, but it was his first-ever WorldTour victory. Van Aert has won a number of lower-level races and was third at Strade Bianche and the E3 BinckBank Classic but confirmed the depth of talents just three weeks before he makes his Tour de France debut. The virtual GC remains close
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