Spilak claims rainy Romandie stage

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Simon Spilak (Katusha) won stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie while Chris Froome (Sky) tightened his grip on the yellow jersey on a day that saw the parcours altered due to the dismal weather conditions.

Snow on the Col de la Croix meant that the day’s original final climb was removed from the route and replaced with the shallower climb of the lower slopes of Les Mosses before an 8km-long plateau to the finish at Les Diablerets.

But although the day’s final ascent was not as difficult as originally planned, it still had a considerable impact on the general classification. After a number of riders including Spilak, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Robert Kiserlovski (RadioShack) had attacked an increasingly isolated Froome on the final climb, the yellow jersey took matters in hand himself and bridged across approaching the summit.

500 metres from the top, Froome set off in lone pursuit of another Spilak acceleration and the two had 10 seconds in hand over the chasers by the time they crested the summit. The pair collaborated smoothly thereafter, and as the chasers struggled to organise themselves behind, they stretched their lead out to over a minute by the finish at Les Diablerets.

Spilak dispatched of Froome easily in the two-up sprint, while Rui Costa and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) led the chasers home some 1:03 down.

“It was a very good stage for me: I like bad weather, so I felt in a great shape,” Spilak said. “The team worked perfectly until the last climb: we did it twice, so I had the time to find the right place to attack.”

Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) was distanced on the final climb, and Froome now holds a commanding overall lead of 47 seconds over Spilak ahead of Sunday’s concluding time trial in Geneva.

How it unfolded

The Col de la Croix was to be the centrepiece of the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie, featuring twice on the parcours (climbed from different directions), but overnight snowfall meant that the second ascent (via Villar) – and the treacherous descent to the finish that followed were removed from the course.

Even so, the stage was a gruelling one, as the plummeting temperatures and continuous rain – not to mention the four categorised climbs – wreaked havoc on a tired peloton.

The day’s early escape came after just 12 kilometres, as Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano), Arthur Vichot (FDJ) and Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling) went up the road. The quartet led over the summit of the Col des Mosses, and had 6 minutes in hand on the bunch by the 80km point.

On the Col de la Croix, Burghardt went clear alone but a dogged pursuit by Vichot saw him get back up to Burghardt and then pass him on the first category climb to Morgins, while the peloton trailed at a little under three minutes. That gap continued to tumble on the way down, and shortly afterwards Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) attacked from the peloton and succeeded in bridging up to Vichot.

The two leaders had 1:15 in hand on the yellow jersey group with 20 kilometres to race, as they began the final climb, a repeat of the base of Les Mosses before swining off towards the finish at Les Diablerets. With Richie Porte (Sky) pushing the pace in support of Froome, however, their margin dropped rapidly, and first Vichot and then Martin were swept up.

Andrew Talansky was dropped from the yellow jersey group shortly afterwards, but by that point, Porte was the only support Froome had left and a number of riders were queuing up to test the yellow jersey’s mettle. Robert Kiserlovski (RadioShack-Leopard) was the first to try his luck, followed by Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Marcel Wyss (IAM Cycling) and Spilak.

When a tired Porte swung over at the head of the yellow jersey group two kilometres from the summit, it looked as if the Sky machine was on the verge of clogging up as it had done at Tirreno-Adriatico, but instead Froome simply took matters in hand himself. With disarming ease, he bridged up to the four attackers and immediately swooped upon Spilak when he jumped again near the top.

Pinot, Kiserlovski and Wyss were powerless to follow and were swallowed up by the sizeable chase group on the 8km plateau towards the finish line at Les Diablerets. Given Froome and Spilak’s startling pace, they had their work cut out to bring back the two leaders in the first place, but the utter lack of cohesion in the chase group complicated matters still further.

For Froome, by contrast, winning the Tour de Romandie now seems a wholly straightforward proposition. With just an 18.7km time trial in Geneva to come, the Sky rider looks set to emulate his internal rival Bradley Wiggins’ win in the same race last year, and further strengthen his credentials as Tour de France favourite.

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