A hilly stage 4 sees Tour de Suisse continue. The best puncheur in the race Boasson Hagen
is naturally the big favourite for today’s stage win, and if he manages to take more bonus seconds than Amador
he’s likely to get the yellow jersey as well. Other riders to watch for the stage win are Pluchkin Denifl Sanchez
As the other days, the stage starts in sunny conditions with the wind indicator saying 7. It means the 190 hilly kilometers from Aarberg to Trimbach/Olten should be a pleasure for most riders.
The riders are about to finish the first hilly part of today’s stage when seven riders are able to get a lead of 3’30 back to the peloton with 153 kilometers left. The riders in the breakaway are Juul-Jensen Meersman Bauer Selander Oyarzun Favilli Bookwalter
At the foot of the first category climb 114 kilometers away from home it’s all UBS-BMC
at the front of the peloton. They control the breakaway and Amador’s
overall lead well, seeing the gap is 6’30.
Favilli
wins the mountain sprint, and the 16 points takes him to the joint provisional lead in that classification. Though, his chances of taking the lead are excellent, considering there are two categorized climb left on today’s stage. The escapees have extended their gap back to the peloton to a solid 7’30.
The breakaway gets a lead of nine minutes before Project 1t4i
comes to the front to try to bring them back. They quickly chase back a minute, meaning the seven escapees are 7’50 ahead with 89 kilometers left.
Though, the breakaway fights well. Very well! 57 kilometers away from home they still lead the peloton by 6’30.
Juul-Jensen
leads the breakaway through the intermediate sprint 42 kilometers from the finishing line. Their lead is still 6’15, meaning we could very well be looking at a breakaway win today. It could also prove to be smart tactic from UBS-BMC
as they probably know it’s a bigger chance for Boasson Hagen
to win the stage and grab the yellow jersey than it is for Amador
to defend it if it comes down to a fight between the favourites for the stage win.
Favilli
takes maximum mountain points at the third category climb 34 kilometers away from home. It gives him the provisional lead in that classification, and he’ll most likely wear the green jersey tomorrow.
It’s really looking good for the breakaway, as the peloton is 5’20 behind.
25 kilometers to go, and the race is finally on back in the peloton! It’s Sanchez
launching a strong attack, and he’s immediately followed by Boasson Hagen Monfort Machado
They do need to hurry if they want to fight for the win, as they’re a massive 4’50 behind the escapees.
But there’s clearly a lot of energy left in the peloton, as everyone is brought back except for Machado
who finds himself 24 seconds ahead 20 kilometers away from home. They’re still 3’30 behind the breakaway.
Though, Denifl
catches the Portuguese with 19.7 kilometers to go, only for Sanchez Boasson Hagen Monfort
to launch another attack.
Boasson Hagen
is the strongest of the attackers, and he finds himself 12 seconds in front of Sanchez
with 19 kilometers to the finish and 1.4 kilometers left of the hill. Monfort
follows 10 seconds behind Sanchez, but 13 seconds ahead of the bunch.
Up front Oyarzun
wins the fight for the final 10 mountain points today, ahead of Favilli Juul-Jensen
They are 2’30 ahead of Boasson Hagen
and 3’15 in front of the peloton.
Brajkovic
leads the 22 riders left in the peloton over the climb 2’46 behind the breakaway riders. All riders in the top 18 are there, though, there are problems for 19th overall Intxausti
as he finds himself in the group chasing 40 seconds behind the peloton.
Bookwalter Bauer Selander
attack with 12 kilometers left while descending, and they quickly open a gap of 30 seconds to the other riders in the breakaway! This could be a key move for unexpected glory for any of the three riders.
Actually, the four other riders in the breakaway decided to stop racing when gapped by the three mentioned, and Boasson Hagen
joins them with 10.4 kilometers left! Though, he can’t afford to stop, as he’s only 20 seconds ahead of Monfort Sanchez
and another 20 seconds ahead of the peloton.
And there you go. Boasson Hagen
stops racing as he joins the four riders, and Monfort Sanchez
also stop racing when they join Boasson Hagen and the four breakaway riders. It all means that the bunch, led by Kangert
takes back 45 seconds in 400 meters, and under the 10 kilometers to go banner, they’re all caught.
Following his successful chase, Kangert
attacks 8.9 kilometers away from home!
Kern
tries to follow as they catch Selander Bauer Bookwalter
The duo is caught 3.500 meters from the finishing line, which only sees Kangert Kern
launch again! And this could be a great move, as there are only a few thousand meters to the line!
Their gap is 18 seconds when Sanchez
launches the sprint in the peloton. From top to bottom follow Frank Zoidl Grivko Amador Boasson Hagen Schleck Pluchkin Machado
But look at this! Breakaway riders Favilli Bauer
clearly saved something for the finish, as they storm to the front with 1.400 meters left!
Amador Schleck Boasson Hagen Monfort Pluchkin Pichon Machado
have all also accelerated, with Pichon Monfort
holding the fastest bikes!
Favilli Bauer
didn’t last long in the lead, and now it’s Pluchkin
storming past Boasson Hagen
looking for the stage win and 20 valuable bonus seconds!
Wyss
has also launched a powerful sprint, and find himself third on the right side of the road as there are only 600 meters left.
400 meters to go and Wyss
fades badly.
Denifl Brajkovic
are both looking fast, but they are too late to stop the two riders up front, as they only got 200 meters left!
Pluchkin
takes the stage win and a nice bonus of 20 seconds! He timed his sprint to perfection and denies Boasson Hagen
the win. The Norwegian must settle for second place, but can find comfort in the fact that he’ll have the yellow jersey on tomorrow’s stage.
Denifl Juul-Jensen Pedraza Wyss Brajkovic
follow next, with the Austrian also gaining some valuable seconds on the line.
Monfort Úran Favilli
lead home the rest of the bunch after an exciting hilly stage here in Switzerland which sees the yellow jersey back to the winner of the prologue.
It’s not a good day for Team Bacardi, as both Intxausti Van der Velde
loses about two minutes to the peloton.
I'm sorry for no exported results. The game simply didn't allow me to export the results on this stage. I wasn't allowed to do that in the first run of the race as well. That probably means there will be no exported results for stage 5 neither. But we shall wait and see for that one.
