Adam Yates takes Romandie race lead as Juan Ayuso cracks on the Queen Stage

Yates attacked and soloed to stage 4 victory after a classic battle on the climb up to the top of snow covered Thyon 2000 ski resort in the southern Swiss Alps

The finale of the Queen Stage had the halmarks of a battle for the stage and race lead and delivered.

Race leader Juan Ayuso was dropped on the lower slopes for the decisive final 20km climb through fog and rain, putting Jorgenson into the virtual lead.

Yates surged with just under 4km to go to win the stage and keep the leader’s jersey within UAE Team Emirates going into Sunday’s finale.

“I tried and pushed it all the way to the line,” Yates said. “We tried to help Juan because he deserved our support. He’s such a big talent, for sure he can win some big races in the future. He said to me 4-5km to go that I should go for the win.

“All week we’ve been riding well, so hopefully we can keep it tomorrow,” Yates said. “It’s nice to win, and I had some bad luck in the last few races. I had a bad crash at Catalunya, and I needed some time off to recovery.”

With one stage left to go, Yates moves into the lead, with Jorgenson remaining second, now at 19 seconds back, with Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) slotting into third.

10 riders went away in the days breakaway with only 5 of them surviving the 1st category climb of Suen including Lawson Craddock. They were all reeled in with 11.5 km to  go.

Multiple attacks made for some classic bike racing with Simon Carr, Thibault Pinot, Yates, Jorgensen, Bardet, Dunbar all attacking in the final 10 km. With 4,3 km to go Yates quashed anymore attacks and opened up a 13s gap that couldn't be closed.

Adam Yates victory beat Rusty Woods 2021 record on the climb of Thyons 2000 set in 2021 of 1h 39s. Weighing in at 58kg, Adam Yates best time of 58m 45s would have been around 6 watts per Kg power, a VAM of 1626 m/h, an average uphill speed of 21.5 kph.

The race concludes Sunday with the 170.8km final stage from Vufflens-la-Ville to Genève. Two short but steep climbs animate the middle of the stage in what should deliver a reduced bunch sprint.

VIDEO: 2023 Tour de Romandie Queen Stage 4 Highlights

2023 Tour de Romandie Queen Stage 4 Top 10

1  YATES Adam UAE Team Emirates 4:40:41
2  PINOT Thibaut Groupama - FDJ 0:07
3  CARUSO Damiano Bahrain - Victorious 0:19
4  POOLE Max Team DSM 0:21
5  JORGENSON Matteo Movistar Team 0:21
6  UIJTDEBROEKS Cian BORA - hansgrohe 0:23
7  BARDET Romain Team DSM 0:45
8  BERNAL Egan INEOS Grenadiers 0:54
9  DUNBAR Eddie Team Jayco AlUla 0:54
10  GLOAG Thomas Jumbo-Visma 0:54

2023 Tour de Romandie  GC after stage 4

1  YATES Adam UAE Team Emirates 13:14:41
2  JORGENSON Matteo Movistar Team 0:19
3  CARUSO Damiano Bahrain - Victorious 0:27
4  POOLE Max Team DSM 0:38
5  PINOT Thibaut Groupama - FDJ 0:41
6  UIJTDEBROEKS Cian BORA - hansgrohe 1:21
7  BARDET Romain Team DSM 1:28
8  MAJKA Rafal UAE Team Emirates 1:47
9  BERNAL Egan INEOS Grenadiers 1:53
10  GLOAG Thomas Jumbo-Visma 2:14