Jumbo-Visma’s Primoz Roglic sprinted to victory on the mountaintop finish of stage four to maintain his overall lead at the Tour de Romandie.
In wet conditions, Roglic had the power to shut down a late attack from Hugh Carthy (EF Education First). He led out the final sprint from distance to push clear of his rivals and cross the finish line first ahead of Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and claim his second stage win of the race.
Britain’s Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) finished third ahead of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Michael Woods (EF Education First).
“It was a tough, wet and cold stage”, Roglic said. “I am happy that I was able to win today after yesterday’s bad sprint. The team did a perfect job again and put Steven and me in an ideal position at the foot of the final climb. Steven then did an excellent job. I can’t thank the team enough for what they did. And my own shape is good too.”
“I knew I was good,” said Costa, “but such a long climb was an unknown factor for me too. In the last period, I had prepared myself more for the classics and I concentrated on the more explosive climbs. I’m therefore satisfied with my performance and in the end, I also had the strength to make a good sprint, even if against such a fit Roglic it was practically impossible to win. Now, I’m back in second place in the standings and the hope is to make a good final time trial to keep at least the podium.”
The Tour de Romandie concludes on Sunday with stage five, the 16.85km individual time trial in Geneva.
Stage 4 Brief Results:
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) 2:42:21
- Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.
- Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 4:
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 15h05’13”
- Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) at 12’’
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) at 16’’
- Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) at 26’’
- Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 29’’
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