Tour de Romandie 2019 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

May 4, 2019

Tour de Romandie 2019 – Stage 4 – Lucens – Torgon : 176 km

The 73rd edition of the Tour de Romandie stays true to form as a shorter, less intense first test for Tour de France contenders before next month’s Tour de Suisse and Criterium du Dauphine, attracting a stellar field and a well-balanced course. Last season, the victory went to Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), who used his time trialing prowess and strong climbing form to claim the overall win over Egan Bernal (Team Sky) and Richie Porte (BMC). This season, Roglic will be up against Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, while an on-form Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), third in the Basque Country Tour, will be one to watch.

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) cemented his overall lead at the Tour de Romandie after he sprinted to victory on the mountaintop finish at Torgon on stage 4. Just a week out from the Giro d’Italia, the Slovenian offered another indication of his form as he proved the strongest of the reduced group that contested the honours amid dismal conditions.

Roglic had the strength to shut down a late attack from Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) in the final kilometre and the confidence to lead out the sprint from distance. His powerful effort saw him rip clear of his rivals to claim stage honours ahead of Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates).

Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) placed third ahead of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Michael Woods (EF Education First), but, like Costa the Welshman never looked like overhauling the flying Roglic, who claimed his second stage win of the race.

Plummeting temperatures, wind and the threat of snow on the Col des Mosses saw the penultimate stage of the Tour de Romandie shortened by some 70 kilometres, but the final ascent to Torgon remained in place.

Roglic never looked troubled by the pace-making of Diego Rosa (Team Ineos), nor was he perturbed by the accelerations of Gaudu and Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) in the final three kilometres.

Indeed, Roglic eventually responded with a rasping attack of his own with a little under two kilometres to go. The Slovenian was joined on the offensive by Thomas and that duo carried a small lead over the reduced front group into the final kilometre.

A wholehearted pursuit by Woods saw them brought back just beneath the flamme rouge, but Roglic summoned up the the wherewithal to kick once again in a breathless finale. The yellow jersey coolly shut down Carthy’s attack and the unsheathed a sharp sprint to take the stage and the time bonus.

In the overall standings, Roglic carries a lead of 12 seconds over Rui Costa into Sunday’s concluding time trial in Geneva, while Gaudu lies a further 4 seconds back in third. Thomas is 4th at 26 seconds, but the defending champion Roglic is firmly in the box seat to retain his crown in the 16.9km test.

Already winner of the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico this season, Roglic has a 100 percent record in stage races in 2019. The Slovenian will be favoured to continue that run on Sunday afternoon but the Giro is the centrepiece of his campaign. “I’m not in my best shape here yet,” Roglic said.

How it unfolded

On Friday evening, Tour de Romandie organisation had already put continency plans in place to re-route stage 4 and following consultation between the commissaires, the CPA and the teams, it was decided on Saturday morning to shorten the stage by 70km and avoid the worst of the weather conditions in the Prealps.

Temperatures of 2°C on the Col des Mosses, not to mention high winds and the threat of snow, prompted the decision, which significantly reduced the total climbing on the stage, though the summit finish at Torgon remained in place, as did the start from Lucens.

A break of eight riders forged clear in the opening kilometres, with Dani Martinez (EF Education First) the obvious dangerman, given that he started the day just 1:29 off the yellow jersey. The Colombian was joined on the offensive by Simon Pellaud, Claudio Imhof (Switzerland), Jonas Gregaard (Astana), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

The leaders had a lead of 1:50 come the top of the category 3 Prévonloup, where Pellaud claimed the mountains points, but the presence of Martinez in the break meant that Jumbo-Visma were reluctant to allow the gap to drift out too far beyond that the two-minute mark.

After the race descended to Montreux and the shores of Lake Geneva, the pace began to ratchet upwards in the peloton, with Groupama-FDJ and Ineos both helping to reduce the break’s lead to 1:30 as they came through Aigle and approached the 10.5km climb towards the finish at Torgon.

Martinez went on the offensive almost as soon as the climb began, with only Gougeard able to match his pace, while Evenepoel et al were swept up by the peloton. Pellaud gamely chased alone for much of the climb and was eventually joined by his Swiss teammate Roland Thalmann and Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin), but this trio never succeeded in catching Martinez and Gougeard.

The rain fell ever more heavily as the road climbed in inexorably upwards. Back in the yellow jersey group, Ineos had taken over the pace-making, with Rosa riding strongly to whittle down their numbers. The Italian was still on the front when Martinez and Gougeard were caught with 5km to go before swinging over to allow Dylan van Baarle take up the reins.

The first real attack on Roglic’s jersey came when first Guillaume Martin and then David Gaudu accelerated with 3km to go, but neither man could force a gap before they reached the official summit of the climb with 2km remaining. The road continued to snake upwards, thereafter, however, and Roglic showcased his strength when he punched clear with Thomas. It wasn’t the day’s decisive attack, but it was a portent of what was to come.

Results :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 2:42:21
2 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
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) Team Jumbo-Visma
10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
11 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First 0:00:06
12 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:19
13 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:26
14 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
15 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
16 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First
17 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
18 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First
19 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
21 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
22 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
23 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert
24 Roland Thalmann (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:00:45
25 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:01:21
26 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
27 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky 0:01:35
28 Patrick Schelling (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:01:44
29 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
30 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
31 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
32 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
33 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
34 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:01:47
35 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
36 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:01:52
37 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
38 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:02:02
39 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:17
40 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
41 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
42 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Swiss National Team
43 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First 0:02:42
44 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:03:05
45 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data 0:03:14
46 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
47 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
48 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
49 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
50 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
51 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:03:39
52 Mathias Flueckiger (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:03:52
53 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert 0:03:57
54 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data
55 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
56 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
57 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:44
58 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
59 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
60 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert
61 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
62 Claudio Imhof (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:05:28
63 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma
64 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Education First 0:06:02
65 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:06:44
66 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
67 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:07:15
68 Florian Storck (Swi) Team Sunweb 0:07:58
69 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
70 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:08:08
71 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:26
72 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:09:20
73 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates
74 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
75 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
76 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
77 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
78 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
79 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
80 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
81 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal
82 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
83 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:09:34
84 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
85 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:33
86 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
87 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
88 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:11:53
89 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:12:33
90 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
91 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
92 Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale 0:13:25
93 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:15:02
94 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
95 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
96 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
97 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo
98 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
99 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
100 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
101 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:16:29
102 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
103 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates
104 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
105 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:17:15
106 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Sky 0:17:23
107 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
108 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
109 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
110 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:17:28
111 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
112 Rasmus Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal
113 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:17:45
114 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
115 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:17:53
116 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:18:18
117 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
118 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNF Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
DNF Patrick Müller (Swi) Swiss National Team
DNS Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNS Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNS Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
DNS Andrey Amador (Crc) Movistar
DNS Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First
DNS Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Dimension Data

General Classification after Stage 4 :
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 Sky 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
11 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
12 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:05
13 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team 0:01:09
14 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert
15 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:01:11
16 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:31
17 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First 0:01:59
18 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team 0:02:00
19 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:19
20 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:23
21 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:32
22 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:43
23 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:03:09
24 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:01
25 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:04:03
26 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First 0:04:21
27 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:04:24
28 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:26
29 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:02
30 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First 0:05:40
31 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:06:01
32 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data 0:06:29
33 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First 0:06:43
34 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida 0:06:57
35 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:07:18
36 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky 0:07:20
37 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:07:25
38 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:08:19
39 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:08:45
40 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:08:48
41 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:08:58
42 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:21
43 Mathias Flueckiger (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:09:37
44 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data 0:09:58
45 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:02
46 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:10:21
47 Roland Thalmann (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:11:28
48 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:11:45
49 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Education First 0:12:38
50 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:13:06
51 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team 0:13:20
52 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:14:37
53 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:14:50
54 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:15:08
55 Patrick Schelling (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:16:35
56 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:17:20
57 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:17:43
58 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:19:06
59 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert 0:19:24
60 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:19:29
61 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky 0:19:39
62 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:19:56
63 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team 0:20:01
64 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:20:02
65 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:21:04
66 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:21:22
67 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:21:50
68 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert 0:23:22
69 Florian Storck (Swi) Team Sunweb 0:25:24
70 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:25:25
71 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:25:32
72 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:26:08
73 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:26:33
74 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:27:14
75 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
76 Claudio Imhof (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:27:22
77 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:27:50
78 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott 0:28:26
79 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team 0:28:30
80 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale 0:28:37
81 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:28:51
82 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:28:58
83 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:29:25
84 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:31:17
85 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team 0:31:23
86 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:32:12
87 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:32:22
88 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:33:25
89 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Sky 0:33:32
90 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:33:43
91 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:35:16
92 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:35:35
93 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:36:58
94 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:37:05
95 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:38:22
96 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:38:35
97 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:41:22
98 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:41:25
99 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:41:54
100 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:42:20
101 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:43:54
102 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 0:44:20
103 Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale 0:45:50
104 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:46:22
105 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:49:41
106 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:49:58
107 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:53:03
108 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:53:19
109 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:54:22
110 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida 0:54:24
111 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 0:55:24
112 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo 0:57:26
113 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:58:57
114 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:59:01
115 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 1:00:54
116 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 1:03:10
117 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 1:07:02
118 Rasmus Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal 1:11:08