Tour de Romandie 2017 – Stage 4 [LAST 24 KM]

April 29, 2017

Tour de Romandie 2017 – Stage 4 – Domdidier – Leysin : 163,5 km

The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling.

Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) seized control of the Tour de Romandie during stage 4 on Saturday, playing the long game by jumping away from the peloton with about 20km remaining and then out-kicking Richie Porte at the finish in Lesyn after the BMC rider bridged to him in the closing kilometres.

Yates and Porte finished 30 seconds ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe’s Emanuel Buchmann and 43 seconds ahead of Porte’s teammate, Tejay van Garderen. The rest of the overall contenders were nearly a minute in arrears.

Yates now leads the general classification by 19 seconds over Porte and 38 seconds over Buchmann. Race leader Fabio Felline, who led the race since the opening prologue, dropped to fourth, 44 seconds down.

Yates and Porte both had time to make up after losing crucial seconds earlier in the week. The Orica-Scott rider jumped away from the peloton on the penultimate climb, mopping up the remnants of an early breakaway as he made his way to the final 5km climb to the finish.

Porte waited longer to make his move, attacking with about 5km to go as the road pitched upward again toward the finish. Although Yates won the stage and the leader’s jersey, Porte’s blistering acceleration away from his potential Tour de France rivals may have been the most significant statement of the day.

Team Sky’s Chris Froome was active earlier in the stage chasing down moves on the penultimate climb of the day, but the defending Tour de France champion ended up 33rd on the day, losing 1:15 to Yates and Porte. He’s currently 33rd overall, 1:36 down on Yates.

How it unfolded

The 162.3km stage from Domdidier to Leysin was a lumpy affair that wasted little time heading uphill. From the start riders climbed toward four categorized climbs, including the final ascent to Leysin.

After the usual flurry of attacks after the starter’s flag dropped, a breakaway of eight slipped away that included Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac), Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Mickaël Chérel (AG2R La Mondiale), Youcef Reguigui (Dimension Data) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty – Groupe Gobert).

The leaders built an advantage of 3:40 as they crested the uncategorised climb in Zumholz, and the gap bumped up to more than four minutes as they reached the lower slopes of the Jaunpass, a 16km categorized climb that whittled the breakaway down to just five riders, with Clarke, Kochetkov, Van der Sande, Armee and Cherel continuing in the lead.

A chase group of a dozen or so riders started to eat into the leaders’ advantage, and with several general classification threats in the move, the peloton kept the new group up the road close.

When the gap to the leaders hovered at just over a minute, the stage and overall lead were in play, prompting several attacks. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) tried his hand without success, but Yates managed to get away, setting up his shot at victory and the two-man duel to come with Porte.

Results :
1 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 4:10:03
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
3 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:30
4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:43
5 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:52
6 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
7 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
9 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott
10 David Gaudu (Fra) FDJ
11 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
12 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
13 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
14 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors
15 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
16 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
17 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
18 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
19 Annas Ait el Abdia (Mor) UAE Team Emirates
20 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
21 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
22 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
23 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ 0:01:03
24 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
25 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
26 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:01:05
27 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
28 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:10
29 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team 0:01:12
30 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
31 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:15
32 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
33 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
34 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:01:21
35 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:27
36 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:01:31
37 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:01:32
38 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
39 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
40 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
41 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
42 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
43 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
44 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
45 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:01:49
46 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:02
47 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:12
48 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:18
49 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:31
50 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:38
51 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:39
52 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:02:40
53 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
54 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:02:48
55 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:03:11
56 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:12
57 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data
58 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
59 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:04:08
60 Alberto Losada (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
61 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
62 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:15
63 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:04:22
64 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:38
65 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:05:02
66 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:03
67 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:05:40
68 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:06:21
69 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:06:28
70 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
71 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:08:02
72 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
73 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:08:26
74 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac
75 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:09:12
76 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:09:20
77 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:09:25
78 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:10:13
79 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:11:10
80 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data
81 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
82 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:14:43
83 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
84 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
85 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
86 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
87 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
88 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team
89 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
90 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac
91 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
92 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Katusha-Alpecin
93 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
94 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale
95 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
96 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
97 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:15:56
98 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott 0:17:18
99 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:20:01
100 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:22:23
101 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
102 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
103 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
104 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
105 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
106 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
107 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
108 Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
109 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
110 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
111 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
112 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
113 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
114 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
115 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
116 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
117 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
118 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
119 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb
120 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
121 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data
122 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
123 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
124 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
125 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ
126 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ
127 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data
128 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
129 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal
130 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-Scott 0:22:36
131 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott
132 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
133 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:45
134 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ 0:23:58
DNF Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
DNF Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
DNF Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
DNF Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky
DNF Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
DNF Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
DNF Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
DNF Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
DNF Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
DNF Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
DNS Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
DNS Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team

General classification after Stage 4 :
1 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 16:50:35
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:19
3 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:38
4 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:44
5 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:52
6 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:53
7 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:56
8 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors
9 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:58
10 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:59
11 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:00
12 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:04
13 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:08
14 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:09
15 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott 0:01:10
16 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:12
17 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
18 David Gaudu (Fra) FDJ 0:01:13
19 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:14
20 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:01:15
21 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
22 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:01:16
23 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
24 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:22
25 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ 0:01:23
26 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:26
27 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:27
28 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
29 Annas Ait el Abdia (Mor) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:28
30 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:30
31 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:32
32 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team 0:01:34
33 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:36
34 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:37
35 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
36 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:01:43
37 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:44
38 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:01:46
39 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:47
40 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:48
41 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:01:55
42 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:02:00
43 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:02:10
44 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:22
45 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:02:25
46 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:31
47 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:59
48 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:03:06
49 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:08
50 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:03:37
51 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:03:57
52 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:04:13
53 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:35
54 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:52
55 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:55
56 Alberto Losada (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:05:09
57 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:14
58 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:06:37
59 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:06:54
60 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:07:30
61 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:07:36
62 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:07:38
63 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ 0:08:34
64 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:08:47
65 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:08:55
66 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:09:25
67 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:09:46
68 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:10:31
69 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:13:17
70 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:14:26
71 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:14:27
72 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:14:36
73 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky 0:14:51
74 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:14:55
75 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida 0:15:12
76 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data 0:15:49
77 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:16:26
78 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:16:38
79 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Katusha-Alpecin 0:16:49
80 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:17:03
81 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott 0:17:24
82 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:17:46
83 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale 0:18:10
84 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:19:35
85 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:20:44
86 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac 0:21:23
87 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:21:30
88 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:22:31
89 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac 0:22:32
90 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:23:54
91 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:24:01
92 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:24:08
93 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:24:13
94 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:24:16
95 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ 0:24:19
96 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data 0:25:18
97 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:28:43
98 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:28:52
99 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:30:47
100 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:31:32
101 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ 0:31:38
102 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:31:43
103 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:31:44
104 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:31:50
105 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:31:59
106 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:32:09
107 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:32:25
108 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:35:11
109 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:35:19
110 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:35:28
111 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:36:02
112 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:36:11
113 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:36:21
114 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:36:44
115 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ 0:37:05
116 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:37:36
117 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:39:17
118 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:40:24
119 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:40:26
120 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:41:18
121 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:41:43
122 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:43:16
123 Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:43:39
124 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:43:50
125 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-Scott 0:44:08
126 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:44:43
127 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida 0:51:09
128 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:51:22
129 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:52:52
130 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:54:00
131 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data 0:54:38
132 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo 0:58:38
133 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:58:45
134 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors 0:59:01