Tour de Romandie 2019: Stage 4

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Key mountain stage of Tour de Romandie shortened due to weather conditions
Tour de Romandie: Gaudu claims victory on stage 3

The plummeting temperatures and threat of snow  on the Col des Mosses has seen the climb removed from today's stage, which is thus shortened by some 70km. Although truncated, the final road stage of the Tour de Romandie should still prove pivotal, not least because the summit finish at Torgons (10.5km at 6.8%) remains in place. The peloton is due to roll out of the start in Lucens at 14.35 local time and will hit kilometre zero at around 14.40.

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) carries the yellow jersey into today's stage, but his lead over David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) is a slender one. The GC picture is as follows:

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 12:23:02
2 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:06
3 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:08
4 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:19
5 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:20
6 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:21
7 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:25
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:27
9 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First 0:00:28
10 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:29
11 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
12 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:31
14 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team 0:00:33
15 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert
16 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:00:35
17 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:38
18 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:50
19 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:55
20 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First 0:01:23

There are six non-starters to report today, most notably Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who said that he had been suffering from flu in recent days and has pulled out as a precaution ahead of the Giro d'Italia. The other non-starters are Léo Vincent (Groupama-FDJ), Nathan Brown (EF Education First) Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Segafredo), Rodrigo Contreras (Astana) and Andrey Amador (Movistar Team).

107km remaining from 107km

Stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie is officially underway. There are two classified climbs on the agenda, the category 3 ascent of Prevonloup after 27km and the final category 1 haul to Torgon.

102km remaining from 107km

A group of eight riders have opened a small gap over the peloton: Simon Pellaud, Claudio Imhof (Switzerland), Jonas Gregaard (Astana), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

102km remaining from 107km

A group of eight riders have opened a small gap over the peloton: Simon Pellaud, Claudio Imhof (Switzerland), Jonas Gregaard (Astana), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

98km remaining from 107km

The eight leaders extend their advantage to half a minute. Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) was attempting to bridge across alone to the break but the Italian has since relented and been absorbed by the main peloton.

Jumbo-Visma set the tempo in the peloton. Dani Martinez began the day just 1:34 down on Roglic, and so the escapees surely won't be granted too much leeway. Even so, the gap is nudging upwards towards the one-minute mark.

93km remaining from 107km

The eight escapees have a lead of 55 seconds over the peloton.

Patrick Muller (Switzerland) has abandoned the race. Meanwhile, the break's advantage has stretched out above the minute mark.

Today's stage was due to take in the Col des Mosses but low temperatures and the risk of snow saw the commissaires take the decision to remove the climb from the route and cut the overall stage distance by 70km. The contingency plans were in place from Friday afternoon and a final decision was taken early on Saturday. Read more here.

87km remaining from 107km

After 20km of racing, our eight leaders have a buffer of 1:24 over a peloton that is being controlled by Primoz Roglic's Jumbo-Visma teammates.

84km remaining from 107km

Simon Pellaud, Claudio Imhof (Switzerland), Jonas Gregaard (Astana), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) are on the day's first ascent with an advantage of 1:36 over the peloton.

78km remaining from 107km

Simon Pellaud (Switzerland) leads the break over the climb of Prévonloup with a lead of 1:50 over the peloton.

Away from the Tour de Romandie, Marianne Vos has claimed overall victory on the Women's Tour de Yorkshire after winning a wind-swept stage 2 on the seafront in Scarborough.

77km remaining from 107km

Dani Martinez is the virtual overall leader as the break's advantage now stands at two minutes. There is no particular urgency from Jumbo-Visma at this point, with so much distance still to go.

Already winner of the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico, Primoz Roglic is unbeaten in stage races so far this year. The Tour de Romandie is another step on the way to the overriding target of his season, the Giro d'Italia. Alasdair Fotheringham recently sat down with Roglic at his Sierra Nevada training camp to run the rule over his journey from roadside fan at Montasio in 2013 to bona fide contender for overall victory in 2019. "I don’t know what it's like for other people but, for me, doing a Grand Tour for the first time was a really hard experience. I didn't know anything," Roglic says. "I was so inexperienced. I had no idea what a 'rest day' was, or even why it happened. Sometimes I had a real fight just to get through a stage, and I was so close to the limit." Read the full story here.

63km remaining from 107km

A slight increase in pace from the peloton sees the break's lead pared back accordingly. The gap is down to 1:33.

Primoz Roglic's Jumbo-Visma teammate Wout van Aert, meanwhile, has ruled himself out of the World Championships in Yorkshire later this year, citing his desire to ride a full programme of cyclo-cross races. The Belgian is not in action here, and indeed won't pin on a number again until the Dauphine in June.

50km remaining from 107km

Evenepoel and the escapees have a lead of just over two minutes after passing through the feed zone. Jumbo-Visma continue to set the tempo on the front of the peloton.

Dani Martinez (EF Education First) remains the virtual overall leader, which ensures that Jumbo-Visma won't let this buffer stretch much beyond two minutes.

Remco Evenepoel has already impressed on a snow-shortened stage in his maiden season as a professional. The Belgian teenager placed 4th on the mountaintop finish at Kartepe on the Tour of Turkey last month, and it will be fascinating to see what he can achieve on the final climb here - provided, of course, that the escapees managed to hit its slopes ahead of the Jumbo-Visma-led peloton.

44km remaining from 107km

The eight leaders are still collaborating smoothly at the head of the race, and they maintain their lead of 2:10 over a peloton led by Jumbo-Visma.

Chad Haga (Sunweb) has abandoned the Tour de Romandie. The American will be part of the team supporting Tom Dumoulin at the Giro d'Italia.

42km remaining from 107km

The leaders are wearing jackets and capes as they ride through some light rain, but mercifully, the high winds and possible snow that limited the distance of this stage are restricted to higher altitudes.

36km remaining from 107km

The race is currently descending towards Montreux and the shores of Lake Geneva. The route then winds around towards Aigle, home of UCI headquarters, before climbing to the finish at Torgon.

Jos van Emden sets the pace on the front for Jumbo-Visma. The men in yellow are lined up at the head of the bunch with a delegation from Groupama-FDJ just behind them.

32km remaining from 107km

A reminder of the eight men in this break, who have a lead of 2 minutes over the bunch: Simon Pellaud, Claudio Imhof (Switzerland), Jonas Gregaard (Astana), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

A full report, results and pictures are available here from today's final stage of the Women's Tour de Yorkshire.

24km remaining from 107km

There is an increasing sense of urgency in the main peloton as Jumbo-Visma string things out on the approach to the base of the final climb, but the escapees remain two minutes clear. Dani Martinez was 1:29 at the beginning of the stage and he remains in the virtual overall lead.

20km remaining from 107km

Into the final 20km for the escapees, who still have precisely two minutes in hand on the bunch. They should start the final climb in front, but Roglic, Gaudu et al will surely start to make inroads into their advantage once the ascent begins.

The final ascent to Torgon is 10.5km in length at an average gradient of 6.8% and with ramps of up to 12%.

17km remaining from 107km

Groupama-FDJ take up the reins in the main peloton. If David Gaudu wants to win the Tour de Romandie, he needs to distance Roglic et al this afternoon, given the Geneva time time tomorrow.

15km remaining from 107km

Stefan Kung is the man setting the pace now, and the Swiss rider's efforts have helped to reduce the gap slightly to 1:49.

13km remaining from 107km

The break's advantage is crumbling rather more rapidly now, as Team Ineos hit the front and the battle for positions in the peloton begins in earnest. 1:20 the gap.

12km remaining from 107km

The escapees are already climbing and Claudio Imhof is the pace-setter on the early slopes. Jumbo-Visma are back holding the reins in the peloton.

The break has fragmented on the lower slopes of the climb. Evenepoel, Imhof, Pasqualon and Gregaard have been distanced.

11km remaining from 107km

Dani Martinez has pressed on at the front with Simon Pellaud for company. Gougeard is trying to bridge across to this leading duo, who have 1:16 in hand on the peloton.

11km remaining from 107km

Winner Anacona (Movistar) attacks from the main peloton and opens a small gap as he sets out in pursuit of the escapees.

10km remaining from 107km

Dani Martinez drops Pellaud, who is in turn caught and passed by Gougeard. Martinez is in no mood to wait for the Frenchman and he accelerates to stretch out his advantage.

10km remaining from 107km

Dan Martinez is pedalling strongly and he enters the final 10km with 1:20 in hand on the peloton. He is no longer the virtual race leader, but he has put himself in with a fighting chance of claiming stage honours.

9km remaining from 107km

Alexis Gougeard has clawed his way back up to Dani Martinez, and this duo has 1:12 in hand on the bunch. Anacona is picking his way through the remnants of the break in pursuit of the leaders.

9km remaining from 107km

The rain falls ever more heavily over Gougeard and Martinez as they grind their way upwards. Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) has now attacked from the main peloton and is, like Anacona, picking his way through the earlier escapees.

8km remaining from 107km

Spilak has Roland Thalmann (Switzerland) for company as well as Claudio Imhof as they stalk Martinez and Gougeard up this ascent.

8km remaining from 107km

Martinez and Gougeard remain in front. Pellaud is third on the road, around 30 seconds back. Thalmann and Spilak are the fourth group on the road. Anacona, it seems, has been subsumed by the reduced peloton.

7km remaining from 107km

Information on time gaps is, unfortunately, at a premium on this rain-soaked final climb. Martinez and Gougeard remain in front as Spilak and Thalmann bridge up to Pellaud to swell the second group on the road to three riders.

Roglic, Gaudu, Rui Costa and Geraint Thomas are all still together in a reduced peloton which appears to be under a minute behind Martinez.

6km remaining from 107km

Thalmann has distanced Pellaud and Spilak, and now sets off in lone pursuit of Martinez and Gougeard. He is 24 seconds down on the leaders, but the bunch is not far behind him.

6km remaining from 107km

The cars have been removed from behind Gougeard and Martinez, signalling that the yellow jersey group has closed to within thirty seconds of the two leaders.

5km remaining from 107km

Thalmann has been caught by the yellow jersey group, which is now being led by Team Ineos and is just 10 seconds down on Martinez and Gougeard.

5km remaining from 107km

Diego Rosa sets the tempo at the front of the yellow jersey group. Gougeard has been caught and now only Martinez lingers in front, a handful of seconds ahead.

5km remaining from 107km

Dani Martinez is caught by the Team Ineos-led yellow jersey group, which contains 20 or so riders. The summit of the climb comes almost two  kilometres from the finish, incidentally, meaning that Gaudu et al are running out of road if they want to discommode Roglic.

4km remaining from 107km

The Ineos-led front group hits a brief downhill section. The road kick up again with a little under 4km to go.

4km remaining from 107km

Diego Rosa swings over now Dylan van Baarle takes up the pace-setting for Ineos. 

David Gaudu sits in second wheel ahead of Roglic. Thomas and Rui Costa are also well placed.

3km remaining from 107km

Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) climbs from the saddle and accelerates, but it's a tired attack and he can't open a gap.

3km remaining from 107km

Gaudu is the next to accelerate. He stretches things out too but can't open a gap either as Roglic follows.

2km remaining from 107km

Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) is the next to stretch things out. The front group is down to 15 or so riders.

Gaudu kicks again but Kruijswijk is immediately onto his wheel, with Roglic, Thomas and the rest of the yellow jersey group just behind them.

2km remaining from 107km

Kruijswijk takes over the pace-making again as they cross the top of the climb proper. The Dutchman sets a steady tempo on behalf of Roglic.

2km remaining from 107km

Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) attacks and opens a small gap, but as soon as he is brought back, Roglic launches a stinging acceleration...

1km remaining from 107km

Roglic opens a decent gap but Thomas is leading the pursuit and dragging an elite group across.

1km remaining from 107km

Thomas has bridged across to Roglic. This duo has a small lead over the chasers.

1km remaining from 107km

Michael Woods leads the pursuit and Roglic and Thomas are caught just beneath the flamme rouge...

The road flattens out from here. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) takes a flyer but Roglic is not willing to let him go...

Hugh Carthy kicks again after Roglic claws back Buchmann. The Briton is going to end up leading out the sprint...

Roglic opens the sprint from distance...

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) wins stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie.

Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) took second place on the stage. 

Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) was third across the line in that reduced group sprint.

Roglic took it upon himself to close down Carthy's late attack and simply carried on and opened his sprint from distance. Rui Costa never stood a chance of getting on terms. Thomas took third ahead of Gaudu and Carthy.

Roglic, of course, retains the yellow jersey and extends his overall lead over Gaudu and Rui Costa.

Result:

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
2 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos
4 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First
5 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
6 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
7 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team
8 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
9 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
 

General classification:

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
2 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:12
3 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:16
4 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 00:00:26
5 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:00:29
 

General classification:

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 15:05:13
2 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:12
3 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:16
4 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:26
5 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:29
6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:37
7 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First 0:00:38
8 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:39
9 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:57
10 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:00 

Thanks for following our live coverage today. A full report, results and pictures are available here. We'll be back with more from tomorrow's concluding time trial in Geneva.