Critérium du Dauphiné: Kämna wins stage 4 from breakaway amid GC chaos

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Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) survived a nasty crash to retain the leader's jersey at the Criterium du Dauphine on a day that saw Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) abandon and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) crash out.

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) escaped from the big-name breakaway of the day to win the stage on the Megève airport finish, confirming his climbing pedigree.  

The talented 23-year-old German rider let others attack in the final kilometres and then jumped across and past Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) and David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) to win alone.

The likes of Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Ineos) were distanced as Kämna won the first professional and first WorldTour race of his career. De la Cruz finished second at 41 seconds, with Alaphilippe third at 56 seconds. Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) was fourth at 58 seconds.

Roglic finished battered and bruised but still in the leader's jersey, 3:01 down on Kamnä.

With one more mountain stage to race, Roglic leads Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) by 14 seconds and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) is third overall at 24 seconds.

How it unfolded

How it unfolded

The news that Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) would not start was the first major news of the day but it would prove not to be the last in a day of high Alpine climbs, pain and emotions on the toad to Megève.

Teammate Geraint Thomas revealed that the 2019 Tour de France winner was suffering from a back problem only confirmed Team Ineos problems and seemed to strengthen Jumbo-Visma's hand. However, there is never a quiet moment in the COVID-19 rescheduled racing.

The riders rolled out of Ugine focused on the mountain stage to Megève, with the chances of a breakaway staying away highly likely. Nils Politt (Israel Start-Up Nation) was the only other non-starter, though his teammate Andre Greipel soon climbed off.

There was a real fight to get in the move of the day with Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) one of the first to put his cards on the table. On the rolling roads, he was joined by Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

On the Col de Plan Bois others groups got across to form a super group of 14 riders. In there were Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-McLaren), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana Pro Team), Dylan van Baarle (Team Ineos), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-McLaren) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Lennard Kamnä (Bora-Hansgrohe), David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), Marc Soler (Movistar), Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb), Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Ineos), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) and Fausto Masnada (CCC Team).

They soon opened a 2:30 lead on the peloton, with Jumbo-Visma and Groupama-FDJ leading the chase. The race settled for a second but was shocked again when Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) crashed hard and quit the race. Kruijswijk had a deep cut on his left elbow and his team said he had dislocated his shoulder. Just two weeks before the Tour de France, three of the top four from the 2019 race were suffering.

With 100km to race, the break took advantage of the hesitation behind to open a 3:30 gap.

This first part of the race included one Alpine climb after another and so the break pushed out their lead to over four minutes. Kamnä was the nearest threat overall at 5:21 down on Roglic but Jumbo-Visma rode diligently at the front, even after losing Kruijswijk.

However, the race twisted again after 82km when Roglic crashed hard. He suffered some nasty road rash and even seemed to climb into a Jumbo-Visma team car, perhaps thinking of abandoning, before setting off again and returning to the peloton.

Jumbo-Visma stopped the chase of the break for a moment and so the peloton eased, allowing the break to extend their lead to 5:00.