Tour de Suisse: Juul-Jensen wins stage 4

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Chris Juul-Jensen (Mitchelton–Scott) attacked from the break of the day and held off the peloton to win stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse on a rain-soaked Gstaad airfield, taking his first win since the 2015 Tour of Denmark. The Danish rider recently completed the Giro d’Italia but had the courage to go in the break and the strength to attack alone after accelerating with Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) on the late climb of the stage.

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) won the sprint, beating Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) but it was for second place, as Juul-Jensen celebrated his solo win. Peters was cruelly caught 150 metres out. Stefan Kung (BMC Racing) finished in the reduced peloton and so retained the overall race lead before Wednesday’s 155.7km stage to Leukerbad and the first mountain finish of this year’s Tour de Suisse.

Juul-Jensen initially seemed to struggle when Peters attacked on the final climb but he explained he rode a clever finale to take his third career victory and the 27th win of the season for the Mitchelton-Scott team.

“When we had two minutes at the bottom of the climb, then suddenly the break started to believe that it was actually possible, and, yeah, I'm over the moon,” he said.

“Coming out of a great Giro with Mitchelton-Scott, I felt that I had good form. When [Peters] attacked I just kept him at a relatively close distance, and I could see that he was maybe taking the corners slightly slower than I was, so I was closing the gap, and then I decided to make the most of it before it was too late.

“It was a long three kilometres on the airfield but it was a fantastic feeling, and especially being here in Switzerland with the king of Switzerland, Michael Albasini, on the team. I'm happy for that good result.”

A wet day in the saddle

The 189km stage from Gansingen to Gstaad was a transfer stage south from the German border to the exclusive Swiss ski resort near Lake Geneva, with the Saanenmöser climb shaking up the finale, worrying the overall contenders and testing the climbing skills of the sprinters.

With another rain-soaked stage expected, the peloton was happy to let a break go away and when Chris Juul-Jensen (Mitchelton-Scott), Silvan Dillier, Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale), Nathan Brown (EF Education First-Drapac), Mark Christian (Aqua Blue Sport) and Paul Ourselin (Direct Energie) shortly after the flag dropped, they were quickly granted their freedom.

Sho Hatsuyama (Nippo-Vini Fantini) was also part of the move but was soon dropped and swept up by the BMC-led peloton. The gap rose rapidly, touching five minutes after just 13km, putting Dillier in the virtual race lead. Ourselin led the break over the top of the Staffelegg climb before the stage profile flattened and the stage settled. BMC was obliged to do much of the chasing to defend Kung’s yellow jersey but Quick-Step Floors stepped up to help with 75km to go and Bora-Hansgrohe did so a little while later. Iljo Keisse and Juraj Sagan did much of the hard work for the two teams and their sprinters, perhaps happy to be at the front and away from the continuous wheel spray.

The gap to the break gradual came down as the kilometres ticked away and the afternoon wore on, with even a few spills at the numerous level crossings failing to slow the chase.

The second category Saanenmöser climb began 18km from the finish and it was the pivotal point in the stage. The six breakaways initially stayed together and the peloton seemed likely to sweep them up on the climb or on the way down to the Gstaad aerodrome.

However, the attacks changed the pieces on the chessboard, ultimately giving Juul-Jensen his chance. The USA’s Nate Brown was the first to attack with 14km to go. When he was pulled back, Peters jumped away and made a huge effort. Only Juul-Jensen could match his pace and went deep to keep the young Frenchman within reach. It was the worth the effort, as was a second longer effort when Peters attacked again over the top.

The Dane eventually caught Peters on the descent and noticed that he was struggling on the wet corners. He waited for a particularly nasty turn with four kilometres to go and cruelly opened a gap. Peters, after his huge efforts, was unable to close it and was forced to desperately chase the Dane around the exposed airfield.

Juul-Jensen could sense victory and had the endurance to keep going solo and the strength to stay away. He rightly celebrated a well-executed and long-time-coming victory.

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