Steady as she goes for Porte in first stage of Tour warm-up

AUSTRALIANS Richie Porte and Simon Clarke, along with last year’s Tour de France champion, Britain’s Chris Froome, finished safely in the bunch as Thomas De Gendt won the opening stage of the Criterium du Dauphine.

Lotto-Soudal’s De Gendt won the stage solo after dropping the last of his breakaway companions with eight kilometres left of the lumpy 170.5km stage, which started and finished in Saint Etienne.

The Belgian, something of a breakaway specialist, finished just under a minute clear of the main pack, which featured all of the general classification hopefuls in a race seen as a key test of form ahead of the Tour de France.

With bonus time applied, De Gendt leads by 48 seconds from AG2R La Mondiale’s Axel Domont, with the main pack 69 seconds down.

Team Sky’s Froome, who won here ahead of his three Tour victories in 2013, 2015, and 2016, is bidding for what would be a record fourth victory in the Criterium. He faces a tough field, which includes his former teammate Porte (BMC), Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Fabio Aru (Astana), and Yates of Orica-Scott.

Ahead of the stage, Team Sky lined up on the front of the peloton for a minute’s silence in memory of those killed in the terror attack in London.

PA