Tadej Pogačar Ruthless on Queen Stage of Tour de Romandie

Tadej Pogačar clocked up his third stage win in five days at the Tour de Romandie, reinforcing his overall lead with an assured and authoritative mountain stage performance on Saturday.

The world champion put in a seated acceleration on the Jaunpass with just under 20km to go, being briefly accompanied by Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), who was then replaced by Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

He appeared to be riding within himself and put in a bigger surge with 17.9km remaining, some 1.2km from the top of that final climb.

He quickly opened a lead over Lipowitz and sped down the descent to seal the victory. It is his sixth of the year and, with one day remaining, leaves the UAE Emirates-XRG rider poised to take what is his first stage race of the year.

“It was pure teamwork. We said okay, if we come with seven riders over the first two climbs then we can go for the stage,” Pogačar smiled while warming down after the stage.

“It was really chapeau to everybody from the team today. The first hour was so hard and then to bring the breakaway back on the climb, all the teammates were fantastic. Then I could finish it off and I am super happy.”

He eased back towards the finish but still crossed the line 14 seconds ahead. He is now 35 seconds ahead of closest rival Lipowitz.

Martinez is at distant 2:23, making it a two horse race for yellow on Sunday’s uphill finale.

Pogačar’s display was authoritative. However he dismissed the suggestion that his rivals have no chance when he attacks.

“The competitors today were really good, strong. It was really hard to drop Florian in the end, he was really strong,” he said. “And also on the downhill he gave me a really hard time, keeping the gap the same all the time.

“So it was definitely not easy. It was super hard and I am happy with the performance today.”

Roglič goes long, Pogačar in control:

Primož Roglič was, pre-Pogačar, the standout Slovenian rider and he sought to turn back the clock on Saturday.

Stage 4 was the hilliest of this year’s race, clocking up over 3,500 vertical meters over 149.6km. The early break including talented American climber Andrew August (Ineos Grenadiers) plus the Canadian Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost), with Roglič bridging across on the Jaunpass climb with 130km remaining.

Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) also joined and while August was detached, the other riders increased their advantage to over three minutes.

Roglič make a key selection on the next ascent of the Jaunpass, thinning things right down to himself, Paret-Peintre and Leonard. The latter was dropped 24km from the line, leaving two out front, but with 20km to go they had just 12 seconds over the GC group and were caught very soon afterwards when Pogačar put in a seated dig.

He was initially followed by Martinez, but the Frenchman was soon dropped and replaced by Lipowitz with 19.4km remaining.

“I felt good during the day,” the Tour de France podium finisher said. “The plan was to follow Pogi as long as possible. But the last kilometer on the climb I was just on the limit. I couldn’t go deep any more, and then I tried to pace myself.”

Pogačar went over the summit alone and plunged towards the finish, although Lipowitz did a fine job of limiting his losses.

“I’m super happy with today, [and with] also how we were racing as a team. A big chapeau to the team.”