Though not the queen stage of this year's tour this is the first mountain stage and a great chance for riders to stake their claim for the KOM jersey with plenty of points on offer.
The break today is
Arif Prayogo Blouwe Chiarello Christapopoulos (KOM Leader) Khodayari Laurance Tanfield White (3rd Overall) Le Court Nsengimana Strong
Tanfield and Arif Prayogo struggle early on as pure TT specialists and are both dropped up the climb.
Blouwe beats Le Court and Chiarello for the first KOM points. Christapopoulos was unable to score.
Laurance then won the points at the first bonus sprint White grabbed an additional 2 seconds bonus though that may not matter come the end as the gap to the peloton has only ever got to 2"30 currently.
And as we hit the 2nd to last climb and first HC climb of the tour Chiarello comes back onto the front with the gap to the Peloton only at 1"45 this seems like a lost cause but the Brazilian is adamant on keeping this break going.
Chiarello takes Khodayari, Blouwe and Nsengimana with him and they go clear as the pack comes into view. It becomes clear why the gap has never grown about 1"30 since 70km to go.
Oldani and Zambanini are hitting the peloton with a fierce pace up this climb and Polar look seriously strong on the front of the peloton Kudus, Rodrigues. McNulty and Oomen have limited help in comparison but seem happy to let Bernal team up the pace.
But hang on they've now dropped the wheel in front Bernal and his team have ridden 20 seconds in front of the pack we still have almost 40km to go will they continue this effort
They will for now and the gap open up to 1"00 with the 5 Polar riders kicking on. Ardila sends one rider to the front but others don't have teammates around them currently. McNulty does have Chaiyasombat but seems unwilling to use him at this stage.
Oldani pulls off but if this was the plan he has executed it to perfection he leaves Zambanini with a 2"00 gap! over the peloton and 35km to go. Blouwe was dropped by the leaders in the breakaway and passed by the polar express with Chiarello still doing a huge turn in the breakaway group.
Chiarello drops Khodayari and Nsengimana over the top to take maximum points though he is still two points behind Christapopoulos in the provisional standings for the KOM.
Zambanini is done and Bernal, Mas and the leading Jaramillo crest the climb 45" behind.
1"30 later and Senni leads the Peloton of 80 riders over the top but there is still a lack of domestiques at the front or a lack of willingness from the other leaders to put them on the front.
The remaining 3 in the break would mop up the Intermediate sprint points in the valley before the final climb as Polar are still in between the groups and entering the final climb we see the gaps.
Break -> 45" Polar Group -> 1" min Peloton.
Van Poucke is now on the front for Lierse and Kudus problem becomes clear as he has no teammates left with him while there is still another 3 Polar riders in the now 30 man peloton.
Kolar is Kudos nearest domestique but he has been dropped behind along with Leknessund of Gazelle and Cort Nielsen.
Two surprises are still in the group in Andersen and White though both are now cracking and will lose big time on the stage.
Kudus decides he can't wait for other and will take up the pacing with 9km to go. Bernal is now down to just Mas with him as Jarmillo drops
Kudus is torching the gap it's down to 20" seconds and he's taking Oomen with him. The peloton is reacting are we coming back together with 7km to go.
Mas says no and finds a completely new gear and kicks Bernal onto the Chiarello and Khodayari group who are both putting on epic rides of their own even if there being overshadowed by the Giro Winners daring escape.
Chaiyasombat takes a huge pull but Mas is just going stronger the gap is back out to 1"20. after coming down to 20 seconds.
Novak, Mavrikakis, Carboni, Vosekalns are behind in a group with Carboni, Senni, Leknessund and Vervaeke that has slowly made ground up the climb to keep Leknessund in contention.
Mas just isn't stopping the gap is now 1"50! and both Bernal and Chiarello are being pulled up the climb as we lose Khodayari but what a ride from the Iranian in such strong company as we pass 6km to go
Kudus and Oomen half take turns in behind but the pace is stopping and no one is willing to ruin their tour to catch Bernal.
He gets to 5km to go and says bye to his companions Bernal he opens up 1"00 in a matter of 500m and is gone. The question is not if he will win the stage but by how far it is now 2"59 back to the peloton from Mas and Chiarello who may hold on for 2nd and 3rd if they can not crack.
No action behind and the scale of Bernal lead goes from good to outrageous he now leads by 3"00 this could be the end of the tour.
1km to go for Bernal on this epic ride!
The peloton by comparison are slowing down enormously but this allows the Gazzelle train back minus all others who were with them though Brozyna is little more then 10m of the back.
Behind Novak has seriously cracked following the Gazelle train and is another 1"30 behind these guys and being overtaken by other groups.
Today only man deserves the praise though. He rode a sensational throwback team attack took on the mountains and tamed them! the giro winner tames the Suisse alps and Egan Bernal wins stage 4! the clock now starts but it will be over 3 mins.
Mas the right hand man to Bernals plan is 2nd an epic ride from him he's 3"15 down at the line!
Chiarello just holds off a charging Kudus who takes 9 important seconds behind. Chiarello takes the KOM jersey for his day in the breakaway.
Oomen, Ardila, and McNulty are next with only Tenorio dropped from this group during the sprint which means Calmejane has survived and is still in 3rd overall.
Alaphilippe leads the points jersey
Leknessund and his clever patience on the final climb give him the U25 jersey over Ardila. while Gazelle getting 4 in the group gives them a 1 second lead over Polar in the Teams Classification.
[PTHC] Tour De Suisse 
