Another fantastic management of efforts by the Movistar Team, directed in this year's Critérium du Dauphiné by José Luis Arrieta and José Luis Laguía, allowed the Blues to bring their leader Alejandro Valverde just 5" off the lead in France following a demanding 24.5km TTT from Roanne to Montagny on Tuesday.

The difficult route of today's time trial, with two flat sections and as many climbs that were hard to manage for rouleurs, forced the likes of Dowsett, Sutherland and Castroviejo to take the strongest turns while Herrada - who later dropped back together with the Briton and the Aussie - Intxausti and Izagirre protected Gadret and most notably Valverde who also contributed to keep the pace in all phases of the race.

After losing 18 seconds (6th fastest) to BMC - the winners and new leaders with Rohan Dennis - at the intermediate point (14km in), the telephone squad came back splendidly to finish in third spot, a result that improves the Spanish squad's performances in both Romandie (10th) and the Giro d'Italia (5th) and boosts their morale heading into the mountains on Thursday. Before that, Wednesday will bring a long route towards Sisteron (228km), with the Côte de la Marquise (Cat-4) and an additional, non-rated ascent in the final 15k.