photo credits @ TDS
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse today, claiming a solo victory following an audacious attack with over 50 kilometers to go on the mountainous route from Heiden to Piuro.
The Portuguese rider was led out on the Splügenpass climb, with his UAE team mopping up the remnants of the breakaway, before Almeida pushed on alone.
However, he didn’t immediately distance his rivals, but gradually rode them off his wheel during the last 2 kilometers of the climb, with Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) being the last to get dropped.
While Almeida’s move reshuffled the GC battle, young Frenchman Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) managed to hold onto the overall race lead thanks to the margin gained in the earlier stages.
Earlier, the day’s breakaway was an octet, which at one point opened up an advantage of 2:40, putting Georg Zimmermann in the virtual yellow jersey. But, by the time the Splügenpass began, there were only four breakaway riders left, while their lead was cut to under a minute.
From there, UAE-Emirates started to turn the screws, causing rapid attrition that reduced the peloton to just a dozen riders.
Almeida later crested the Splügenpass with a 20-second gap ahead of Onley, Gall and O’Connor, later increasing his advantage along the descent.
Grégoire’s chase group linked up with Gall’s, followed by O’Connor and Vauquelin, but there was no reining in Almeida, who’s lead had swelled to 43-seconds.
With a brutal stage to Santa Maria in Calanca awaiting the riders tomorrow, Almeida will be looking for a similarly big gain. Vauquelin needs just 25 seconds on his compatriot to take over the lead, while O’Connor sits well-placed thanks to his stage 4 gain, with just 56 seconds now separating him and the yellow jersey.
