Brandon McNulty (USA) had high hopes of joining the GC contenders in stage 4 of the Criterium du Dauphiné on the strength of his time trial. However, a disastrous mechanical problem on the route ended any hope of closing the gap to leader Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma).

McNulty stopped just minutes into the 31.9 km time trial with what appeared to be a jammed chain, and a UAE Team Emirates mechanic jumped out of the team car to give him a spare bike, but McNulty waved off the offer to help him reinstall the chain. McNulty waved off the offer to help reinstall the chain.

In what appeared to be an unusually long time to repair the original machine, McNulty reacted by tapping the top tube while the mechanics fiddled with the rear wheel. The young American thrust his arm in the air, and the mechanic eventually ran back and retrieved a new bike from the rack. McNulty got on his new bike and was pushed straight out of the race, but the delay cost him 40-50 seconds on the stage and a lot of damage in the overall standings.

When McNulty ended his nightmare at the finish line in La Batie d'Orphe, he was 2:21 behind stage winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), down nine places in the overall standings, and another 2:19 behind in 20th place overall.

McNulty was the top UAE Team Emirates rider midway through the Dauphiné on Tuesday when he finished 10th with the leading riders on the second class 2 climb of Chastlet-Saint-Cy. By the end of stage 3, he was 16 seconds behind Van Aert and in 11th place on GC.

The American Olympian, who was sixth in the Tokyo road race, had already won three races this season, including a stage from Paris to Nice. He is an accomplished time trialist, having won a world title in the time trial as a junior, but the next four days across France will be mountainous and may have ended his hopes of a podium finish.