Tour de Suisse stage 4 live: first major mountain stage set to test GC challengers

Here's a shot of the break before it fell apart...

Grignard is dropped from the four chasers behind the breakaway, leaving Warbasse (whose teammate Mayrhofer is ahead), Zimmerman and August as their closest pursuers.

71 kilometres to go

Break is splitting apart. Mayrhofer, Gloag, Powless and Simmons move ahead

We're fast approaching the foot of the first climb of the day, the Sufers, and the speed of the race is a brainsearing average of 51.2kmh. The climbs will bring down that average notably, of course, but we're still 25 minutes ahead of the fastest time schedule of the day.

80 kilometres to go

2:45 the gap.

And here's the report CN had about Warbasse that day back in 2017...

Tour de Suisse: Warbasse wins on first summit finish in Villars-sur-Ollon

Simmons is the most recent stage winner of the Tour de Suisse, but he's not the only one in the break (and not the only American, either) with a stage victory. Larry Warbasse, also a former US National RR Champion, took one of the biggest wins of his career, if not the biggest, in Suisse back in 2017.

On the plus side for Ineos on stage 4, they've got Andrew August, a debutant in the Tour de Suisse, in the break. On the downside, after DNS Geraint Thomas they've now just lost a second rider today, Laurens De Plus, who's abandoned.

Of the eight, Zimmerman, a former Dauphiné stage winner, is the best placed overall, at 2:18 on race leader Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ); the next most dangerous is Simmons, 6:08 back.

And here's a shot of the first three to test the water: Warbasse, Zimmerman and August

1:15 the gap. Looks like after a mere 100 minutes/85 kilometres of racing, we finally have the break of the day.

Breakaway of eight: Neilson Powless (EF-EducationFirst); Andrew August (Ineos Grenadiers); Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Wanty); Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek); Thomas Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike); Sébastien Grignard (Lotto); Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor); Larry Warbasse (Tudor).

Finally eight riders are moving together at the head of the race. Names and numbers shortly.

Powless and Simmons are trying to bridge across

110 kilometres to go

And the three have a 22-second advantage, the biggest of any break so far.

Attack by three riders: Andrew August (Ineos Grenadiers), Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Wanty) and Larry Warbasse (Tudor).

Fortunato is now over two minutes back. He is currently lying tenth overall at 1:37, and was presumably hoping to shine on the mountain stages, as well as being a GC threat.

133 kilometres to go

And no break. For the last 16 kilometres the road has been beginning to rise, albeit very gently, and even though the summit of the Splügenpass is 90 kilometres away...

The peloton has sucked back in the Powless-inspired move and another lone bid for glory by Fabio van den Bossche (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has also rapidly collapsed. One hour's racing done and the average speed is 55kmh...

Powless is nearly nine minutes down on GC, so he's not a threat overall, so is a good candidate for a long-distance break today.

More riders bridging across to Powless, a recent winner on Swiss soil in the GP Gippingen.

Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) was one of the last riders to try and counter-attack Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) on stage 3 and he's back on the move again now.

160 kilometres to go

Bunch still together, but more riders, like Giro d'Italia KoM winner Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) are dropped.

Another attack goes six riders and it almost immediately implodes. Bunch remains together though at this speed, how long for is anyone's guess.

Average speed for now is a jawdropping 51.3kmh. Just as well it's a flat stage.

Stage 3 was won in spectacular style by Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), who dedicated the victory to the late Gino Mäder, who died after a major crash on the race almost two years ago to the day. Full story here:
Tour de Suisse: Long-range attack nets Quinn Simmons solo win on stage 3

Eight riders dropped including stage 2 winner Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost)

Meantime, here's a photo of the riders waiting for the start. Race leader Romain Grégoire (Groupama) second from left, and yesterday's stage winner Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) on the far left.

Another three riders try and go clear, but still nothing sticking and we're nearly 20 kilometres into the stage...

Abandon for Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar), winner of a stage of the Giro d'Italia last year when he outpowered Julian Alaphilippe.

178kms to go

Bunch back together

Split in the bunch.

3,024 metres of vertical climbing today, by the way, of which the peloton have already done all of 32 metres, so there's a fair bit to come.

Weather is warm and dry at the moment - a balmy 21ºC, although it l'ikely get a mite colder when the stage hits the Alps

Peloton is still all together after four kilometres of racing, despite some early attacks

Here's a map of the race route for today. Essentially a long run south up into the Alps, skirting round the western side of Austria and then Lichtenstein before heading up the Splügenpass and into Italy at its summit. After that, it's a long old drop down to the finish in Borgonuovo di Piuro, although there's a bit of a grind up to the line itself, 2.6km at 2.8%.

What's on the menu on stage 4 of the 2025Tour de Suisse

Km 128.5: Climb: Sufers - Cat.3, 3.4km at 5.7%

Km 137: Sprint: Splügen

Km 146: Climb: Splügenpass - Cat.1, 8.8km at 7.3%

Km 185: Sprint: Chiavenna

Km 193: Finish: Borgonuovo di Piuro

Already some early attacks...

Stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse from Heiden - Borgonuovo di Piuro is officially underway. Only 193.2 kilometres left to race…

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) with a new friend at the stage 4 start

A reminder of the classification leaders just before the ball gets rolling for real...

Race leader: Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ)

Points: Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ)

Mountains: Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlAla)

BYR: Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ)

Teams: Movistar

Just under 10 minutes now until the neutralised section of today's racing gets underway

Here's our full report on Geraint Thomas' crash and subsequent DNS, as the Welsh star builds towards the Tour de France in the final year of his career.
Geraint Thomas abandons Tour de Suisse as 'precautionary measure' after stage 3 crash

Meantime here's a reminder of the current GC standings, courtesy of FirstCycling

The first news story of the day has already broken. According to Ineos Grenadiers, Geraint Thomas, a former overall winner back in 2022 - which was, in fact, the most recent victory of his career - and second in 2015, has opted for a DNS after yesterday's mid-stage crash.

Racing is set to start at 1210 CET, but the riders will start a lengthy 11.1km neutralised section of the course at 1150 through the streets of the start town, Heiden.

Today is the first of two key back-to-back mountain stages which will likely provide a major shakeup of the GC classification. The standout ascent today is a single Cat.1 climb the 8.8 kilometre Splügenpass. But if that distance doesn't sound too bad, a quick glance at the stage profile shows that in fact the climbing before the Splugenpass kicks off starts a mere 35 kilometres earlier. The route actually takes the riders from 650 metres above sealevel at km 97 to over 2,200 metres at the top of the Cat.1 ascent at km 146. So that's a rather bigger challenge.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 4 of the 2025 Tour de Suisse