Sky dominate team time trial and hold top four spots in Dauphine

Geraint Thomas moved up to fourth at the Criterium du Dauphine as Team Sky produced a dominant display in the team time trial on stage three.

Sky finished 37 seconds clear of closest challengers BMC Racing and now hold the top four spots on the general classification.

Poland’s michalkwiatk ow ski regained the leader’s jersey from Daryl Impey, while teammates Gianni Moscon and Jonathan Castroviejo both lie within nine seconds.

Britain’s Thomas, who crashed in the prologue and started the day in 20th place, is 21 seconds behind Kwiatkowski in fourth.

Sky finished the 35-kilometre team time trial in 36 minutes and 33 seconds, with BMC Racing second and Lotto Soudal third, 53 second back.

Impey’s Mitchelton-scott team, who also contain Britain’s Adam Yates in their lineup, lost 56 seconds to the Sky riders and dropped to eighth in the GC standings, with Yates 14th, one minute 17 seconds off the yellow jersey.

Kwiatkowski was happy to have won as part of the team, after a late crash on Tuesday.

He said: “I’m so happy. I came up with no major issues after yesterday’s crash.

“If I had picked one stage that I would like to win in this Dauphine, it’s the team time trial. It’s always a wonderful feeling to win together with the team. I think we rode a perfect stage.

“We rode, technically, a perfect race. We used all the guys throughout the entire course. These 35km were really demanding, all the time changing rhythm and speed.”

The race moves into the mountains today, with Team Sky looking to win the event for the sixth time in eight years.