Criterium du Dauphine: Alberto Contador wins prologue time trial

Alberto Contador claimed his fourth win of the season

Chris Froome had to settle for third place as Alberto Contador took the early lead of the Criterium du Dauphine by winning the race-opening uphill prologue time trial in Les Gets.

Contador (Tinkoff) stopped the clock on a 3.9km course in 11min 36sec, which was six seconds faster than runner-up Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and 13 seconds ahead of Froome (Team Sky).

It was Contador's fourth win in total and second in a time trial this season.

Contador: Title not a priority

Alberto Contador says winning the Criterium du Dauphine is not a priority

There were no bonus seconds on offer on the day, meaning the general classification is the same as the stage result.

Contador said: "It was a very hard time trial, especially from km 2km to 1km to go. I've tried to speed up, but it was hard to change rhythm.

Contador has never won the Dauphine title

"The climb suited me really well. I knew I could time trial well on this course, but I didn't know if I was able to win it. I started flat out and I had good legs."

Froome added: "It was only a 4km prologue, but that was really tough. There were gradients of 20 per cent, and I was running out of legs and just squeezing every bit out for the line.

Chris Froome finished 13 seconds down in third

"I'm happy with the numbers and the feelings I had on the bike. I'm in good shape but I've still got some work to do, and we're a month out from the Tour still. I'm glad that's out of the way."

Although Contador, Porte and Froome all performed well and remain within striking distance of one another, fellow pre-race favourites Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Fabio Aru (Astana) suffered damaging time losses.

Contador beat runner-up Richie Porte by six seconds

Pinot finished 52 seconds down on Contador, Rodriguez was 1min 2sec back and Aru lost 1min 8sec.

There were two Britons in the top 10, after Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) finished eighth, 31 seconds adrift of Contador.

The eight-day Dauphine continues on Monday with a flat 186km first stage from Cluses to Saint-Vulbas. Find out more about the route in our race guide.

Prologue result and general classification

1 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, 11:36

2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing, +6sec

3 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +13

4 Dan Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step, +21

5 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step, +24

6 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, +25

7 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +29

8 Adam Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, +31

9 Diego Rosa (Ita) Astana, +37

10 Jesus Herrada (Esp) Movistar, +39