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United States | Midwest | Ohio >> Chris Froome (Team Sky) breaks away to win stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie

Chris Froome (Team Sky) breaks away to win Queen stage of the Tour de Romandie

Chris Froome (Team Sky) took stage four victory on a summit finish after joining a breakaway earlier in day with Tejay van Garderen (BMC).

Conditions in Saturday’s stage were wet and windy and Froome took the opportunity to try and get a stage win.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) held on to his overall lead after nearly crashing on wet railway lines earlier in the stage, his bike handing skills saving him from going down on the deck heavily.

It was a brute of a day, with the poor weather and five categorised climbs, which contained two ascents of the HC1 climb of the Barboleusaz.

Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Froome made a big move on the first ascent of the Barboleusaz,with 45 km's to go, to bridge across to Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha) and Bob Jungels (Etixx-Quick Step) who had stuck - from the original 11 man breakaway of the day.

Movistar started to chase as the gap opened up to 40 seconds as the breakaway decended the Barboleusaz.

On the second ascent of the Barboleusaz, Froome and van Garderen dropped the Kochetkov and Jungels with the gap openg up to nearly a minute.

Katusha and and FDJ took up the pace, with a nervous Quintana following.

However, with all the GC contenders all vying for a place, the gap grew as no one chased.

Froome then attacked and dropped van Garderen, obviously coming into form for the bigger races to come.

The bunch sat up and let the leaders go as Quintana's overall race lead wasn't threatened by Froome's attack.

The fifth and final stage is 177 km with two categorised climbs that feature earlier in the stage -  which will likely suit a bunch sprint.

Quintana should be set for an overall victory in this case.

 

Chris Froome (Team Sky) breaks away to win stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie

Tour de Romandie, Stage 4 Results

1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, in 4-44-24
2. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Movistar, at 4 secs
3.  Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ
4. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha
5. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar
6. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)
7. Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida
8. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale
9. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing
10. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, all same time

Tour De Romandie, Overall Stage 4

1. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, 12-07-03
2. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, at 19s
3. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Movistar, at 23s
4. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, at 26s
5. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, at 57s
6. Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, at 1-12
7. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, at 1-16
6. Matthias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling, st
9. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 1-24
10. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC, at 1-27