Tour de Romandie 2016: Stage 4 - Froome solos to victory, Quintana still in the lead

The 4th stage of the Tour of Romandie features five climbs. At the penultimate climb Chris Froome attacks with Tejay van Garderen to leave the American alone with 7 kilometres left on the last climb. Sweet revenge after his off-day two days ago. Quintana retains the leaders jersey and is ready to win the overal in the 2016 Tour de Romandie. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 4th stage Tour de Romandie

1. Chris Froome (gbr)
2. Ion Izagirre (spa) + 0.04
3. Thibaut Pinot (fra) s.t.
4. Ilnur Zakarin (rus) s.t.
5. Nairo Quintana (col) s.t.
6. Bauke Mollema (nld) s.t.
7. Rui Costa (por) s.t.
8. Rigoberto Uran (col) s.t.
9. Tejay van Garderen (usa) + 0.09
10. Simon Spilak (slo) s.t.

GC after stage 4
1. Nairo Quintana (col)
2. Thibaut Pinot (fra) + 0.19
3. Ion Izagirre (spa) + 0.23
4. Ilnur Zakarin (rus) + 0.26
5. Tom Dumoulin (nld) + 0.57
6. Rui Costa (por) + 1.12
7. Simon Spilak (slo) + 1.16
8. Mathias Frank (swi) s.t.
9. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 1.24
10. Tejay van Garderen (usa) + 1.27

Race report
Once the flag is dropped the pace is so high it takes over an hour for riders to get clear. Marco Marcato and Martin Kohler force a tiny gap and when they are accompanied by Kochetkov, Rovny, Kittel, Jungels, Armée, Bono, Pantano, Meyer en Ludvigsson the break of the day is finally underway. The race to a maxiumum gap at over 3 minutes, but at the Col des Planches the advantage goes down and riders are dropped after the other till Kochetkov, Jungels and Armee are the only riders left at the front.

With 45 kms to go Armee is dropped. When Jungels and Kochetkov enjoy a 2 minutes lead Spilak opens the chase. He doesn’t make it, but Froome and Van Garderen do. They chase the leaders down in no time.

When hitting the 8,9 kms closing climb at 12% the quartet enjoys a 1 minute lead. Kochetkov is dropped at the lower slopes, Jungels a little later. With 5 kms left to the top Pinot accelerates, diminishing the pack to around ten riders. Zakarin and Quimtana are aboard. Higher up the mountain Froome leaves Van Garderen alone. He is first at the top and then it’s 4 kms left to the line with an altitude gain of only 53 metres.

Froome soloes to victory, albeit the chasing group comes close. Nairo Quintana retains in the lead and as tomorrow’s stage is on rolling roads the overall victory is within reach for the Colombian.