Dauphiné set for new race leader after ITT

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David Veilleux's time in the yellow jersey is set to come to an end on Wednesday following the Stage 4 individual time trial at the Critérium du Dauphiné with the Europcar rider's 1:56 overall lead set to come under fire from more-fancied general classification contenders.

Lawrence Warbasse (BMC) will be the first rider out of the start house at 10:50am local time, with riders leaving at one-minute intervals until 17th-placed Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) heads off two minutes following Rein Taaramae (Cofidis).

Veilleux has led the race since claiming Sunday's opening stage in a solo victory however reigning World Champion in the discipline Tony Martin (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) heads into today's stage as overwhelming favourite. At over 10 minutes down, Martin won't be challenging for the yellow jersey should he win the 32.5km pan-flat race against the clock, but he should notch up his sixth victory for the season in the chrono. With the German suffering intestinal issues over the last few days, the result of the stage should be an indicator of his true condition.

Instead, Sky's big guns are set to come to the fore with Chris Froome (11th), Richie Porte (9th) and Geraint Thomas (7th) all sitting just 1:57 off the lead of Veilleux. The form of Froome and Porte so far this year in the individual time trial has seen the pair take wins at the Tour of Romandie, Critérium International, and Paris-Nice. Although it's important to note that those victories were all on stages less than 10km in length.

Not contention, but in an important marker for the Tour de France Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) will be looking to lay down a good time in relation to his expected challenger at the end of July, Froome. It's a battle that Froome should win but the interest is in the margin.

Testing himself on multiple occasions so far, 'Le Machine' Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) appears to have the form to make the stage podium while his teammate Michal Kwiatkowski could easily ride into the top-five for the day.

Three-time world champion Michael Rogers (Saxo - Tinkoff) should enjoy the flat course but it will be his compatriot, Rohan Dennis (Garmin Sharp) setting a decent benchmark for the likes of Froome to chase. World under-23 time trial silver medalist Dennis was ninth in the Romandie ITT, less than a minute off the winning time of Martin and less than a month ago, finished third in the chrono in California.

Others to watch include Dutch ITT Champion Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) and five-time Italian ITT Champion, Marco Pinotti (BMC).