Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) soared to victory on the Tour de Romandie’s second summit finish at Leysin, soloing to the line 2km from home after the elite GC group detonated inside the final 5km of the climb.
The Ecuadorian left behind Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) after the German had put in a biting attack to blow apart the lead group a kilometre earlier.
Carapaz held off a very late charge from Lipowitz, who sprinted away from Rodríguez inside the final kilometre, to secure the win, while the Spaniard finished third.
Further back, race leader Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) couldn’t cope with the pace, dropping out of contention for the win, and, eventually, the yellow jersey, as he finished over 40 seconds down.
Carapaz held off a very late charge from Lipowitz, who sprinted away from Rodríguez inside the final kilometre, to secure the win, while the Spaniard finished third.
Further back, race leader Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) couldn’t cope with the pace, dropping out of contention for the win, and, eventually, the yellow jersey, as he finished 44 seconds down.
Rodríguez would take over the race lead as a result, jumping up three spots in the general classification. He now lies seven seconds clear of Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), who was fifth on the stage, 14 seconds down. Lipowitz is third overall at nine seconds, while Ayuso drops to fifth overall at 27 seconds.
The GC action kicked off just as breakaway survivor Clément Berthet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was caught with 5.5km to go of the 152km queen stage. The catch, led by Ineos Grenadiers with Ayuso and his teammates close behind, preceded the first move, made by the resurgent Egan Bernal.
The Colombian's jump wasn't the decisive move of the day, but filtered out all but the top GC men, including Carapaz, Lipowitz, Rodríguez, Ayuso, and Vlasov. Enric Mas (Movistar), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep), and UAE Team Emirates pair Adam Yates and Pavel Sivakov were also there.
Bernal was brought back soon after, and quickly set to work for Rodríguez, who clearly had the race lead in his sights further up the mountain. Over the next 2km, several riders dropped away with the pace changes up front, leaving the path clear for Lipowitz to make the big move, dropping Ayuso and laying the stage for Carapaz's stage-winning acceleration.
How it unfolded
Coming two days after the previous summit finish at Les Marécottes and a day after the Oron time trial, which shook up the overall standings, the fourth stage brought five tests in the form of classified climbs for the peloton.
The climbing included the early first-category Ovronnaz (9.1km at 9.5%), as well as the second-category Les Rives (9.6km at 5.4%) just before the 100km mark and then the final climb to the line at Leysin (13.8km at 6%).
With so many mountain points up for grabs, it was no surprise that a strong breakaway group left to contest the four earlier climbs. Over 50km had passed before the move went, with Berthet joined in the attack by teammate Dorian Godon as well as Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease A Bike), and Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
UAE Team Emirates did much of the work behind, unsurprisingly, on behalf of Ayuso, while up front the breakaway riders racked up the mountain points.
Lemmen took 15 on Ovronnaz and another five on the third-category La Rasse before adding another four for third place at Les Rives. He wouldn't reach the 35 points of classification leader Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck), however, and over the penultimate two climbs of Les Rives and Les Giettes, no other riders would come close to that total, either, leaving the German safe in the KOM lead.
By that point, Berthet had gone solo in search of stage glory, though behind him Ineos Grenadiers had already begun the work on the road towards the stage's final climb. He left Lemmen behind on Les Rives to go solo only had 1:20 of a lead over Les Giettes.
With 45km to go, the Frenchman stood little chance of hanging on for the win, but he ploughed on in the valley, regardless. He'd bravely battle on up the final climb, too, making it over 8km of the way up before the inevitable catch.
From there, it was up to Ineos Grenadiers and Egan Bernal to set up the GC battle, and it was the British team who came away from the day with the fruits of the stage, taking the yellow jersey ahead of the hilly final showdown in Vernier on Sunday.
Results
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