Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) took victory on the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie after attacking solo on the final descent. The Dane’s win is the second of the race for the Astana team, which took stage 1 with Omar Fraile.
Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) beat Egan Bernal (Team Sky) in the sprint for second place, some 47 seconds behind Fuglsang, to extend his lead over the Colombian in the general classification. Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and Richie Porte (BMC Racing) followed them across the line to take fourth and fifth, respectively, with Porte giving away two seconds plus bonus seconds to Roglic and Bernal in the GC battle.
Fuglsang looked intent on securing himself his first win of the season, following an earlier attack by Costa on the final climb. The pair was eventually brought back when Bernal launched a flurry of attacks towards the top of the ascent, taking the race leader Roglic with them. Another attack by Bernal dropped all but Roglic, and the two leading contenders in the overall classification were the first to crest the Basse-Nendaz.
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Costa and then Porte quickly bridged the gap at the start of the descent, but it took Fuglsang a little longer to make contact, using his notable descending skills to do the business. The Dane sat near the back of the group for much of the first part of the descent, biding his time to jump again as the road briefly headed upwards again with 15 kilometres remaining.
The road soon dipped down again and that is where Fuglsang did the most damage. He quickly extended his lead to almost 40 seconds, helped by a level of apathy from the riders behind. Costa appeared eager to bring Fuglsang back, but he was getting no help from the top three in the overall classification. Thanks to doing so much work in the chase, Costa was easily passed by Roglic and Bernal in the battle for bonus seconds, allowing Fuglsang to relieve him of his fourth place in the GC, having started the day 15th overall.
How it happened
It was another unusually sunny day at the Tour de Romandie as the riders sought out the shade while they waited for the start of the queen stage in Sion. After a tough mountain time trial, the organisers had mapped out a challenging route through the mountains for stage 4. Five climbs littered the route, with the first of them coming almost immediately after the start.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-romandie-2018/stage-4/results
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