Riche Porte has continued the dominance he put on display in the Paris-Nice with another victory in today's time trial in the Criterium International. He beat Manuele Boaro (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) by 1 second to take the overall lead.

With his second time trial victory of the season, Richie Porte set himself up for another overall victory in a French stage race after his triumph in the Paris-Nice earlier this month. On a short, challenging 7 km course in Porto Vecchio he beat all of his rivals to start tomorrow's decisive mountain stage in the leader's jersey.

His nearest challenger was Manuele Boaro who once again showed off his talents in the race against the clock. Only 1 second separated the two contenders in a very close fight for the stage win.

With Boaro not expected to be among the best on tomorrow's climb, his nearest overall rival should be 3rd placed Tejay Van Garderen. The American used another strong time trial performance to position himself well for an assault on the overall victory and a possible revenge for his Paris-Nice defeat in tomorrow's mountain stage.

Chris Froome (Sky) entered the race as the major favourite, and he kept his options open with a 4th place finish  seconds behind Porte. The Sky duo will now have to sort out any questions surrounding the leadership role ahead of tomorrow's stage with Froome maybe using the opportunity to put himself at the service of his domestique ahead of more important objectives to come.

Other notable performances were made by Andrew Talansky (Garmin), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r), Andreas Klöden (Radioshack), Jerome Coppel (Cofidis) and Bauke Mollema (Blanco) who all entered the top 10. All 5 are potential overall winners, and with their performances today they are certainly still in contention.

Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC) had declared that he would put his services completely behind Van Garderen. His performance in the time trial suggested that this was no fluke as he ended up 74th in the time trial he won last year.

Finally, Andy Schleck (Radioshack) did his first time trial since his dramatic crash in last year's Criterium du Dauphine. He finished a modest 71st, but with just one stage remaining he should be able to finish his first stage race since the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe in April last year.

Result

1 Richie Porte - Sky Procycling 9.10
2 Manuele Boaro - Team Saxo - Tinkoff 0.01
3 Tejay Van Garderen - BMC Racing Team
4 Chris Froome - Sky Procycling 0.02
5 Andrew Talansky - Garmin-Sharp 0.07
6 Jean-Christophe Peraud - AG2R
7 Bob Jungels - RadioShack-Leopard
8 Andreas Klöden - RadioShack-Leopard 0.09
9 Jerome Coppel - Cofidis 0.11
10 Bauke Mollema - Blanco Pro Cycling Team
 

General classification
1 Richie Porte - Sky Procycling 2.11.53
2 Manuele Boaro - Team Saxo - Tinkoff 0.01
3 Tejay Van Garderen - BMC Racing Team
4 Chris Froome - Sky Procycling 0.02
5 Andrew Talansky - Garmin-Sharp 0.07
6 Jean-Christophe Peraud - AG2R
7 Bob Jungels - RadioShack-Leopard
8 Andreas Klöden - RadioShack-Leopard 0.09
9 Jerome Coppel - Cofidis 0.11
10 Bauke Mollema - Blanco Pro Cycling Team