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Simon Yates king of Tour de Romandie queen stage

Brit nabs race lead as compatriot Froome has tough day

April 29, 2017
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Simon Yates (Great Britain/Orica-Scott) triumphed in Saturday’s queen stage of the Tour de Romandie, outsprinting Richie Porte (Australia/BMC) at the top of a Cat. 1 ascent. Yates takes the race lead from Fabio Felline (Italy/Trek-Segafredo), and the Brit leads the Aussie by 19-seconds.

On Stage 4 the riders faced a back-loaded day of 163.5-km, with four categorized climbs in its second half including a Cat. 1 rated clamber to Leysin.


No breakaway was able to find traction until the 27-km mark when an octet hammered up the road. Mountains jersey holder Sander Armée (Belgium/Lotto-Soudal) was in his third escape of the 2017 Tour de Romandie and he brought two teammates for company.


By the time they hit the first climb of the day, the fugitives held a 4:15 gap. It was a tough climb, the Jaunpass, 6.6-km at 7.5%. It was too much for the octet to stay intact. Not surprisingly, Armée took the maximum 12-points at the crest and started down with only four companions and a gap of 2:20.

Before the next climb, Cat. 2 Saanenmöser, a chase containing Stage 1 winner Michael Albasini flared out from the peloton. Armée prevailed atop the Saanenmöser, only a few points from nailing down the KOM.

The Albasini chase was too high-powered to survive for long. Armée’s army headed up the penultimate climb, Cat. 1 Col du Pillon, with 1:40 over the peloton. Sky and BMC were slicing and dicing at the front of the field, and Ilnur Zakarin tried to skip away but it all came to naught.

Armée wouldn’t have his way at the top of Pillon, 19-km from the finish, with Mickaël Chérel (France/AG2R) tipping up and over first. Meanwhile, Yates attacked from the peloton.


The final climb was arguably the easiest of Saturday’s three Cat. 1’s. At 5.4-km and 6.5%, its opening slopes were the toughest. A few riders joined Yates in the chase and they caught Chérel et al with 9-km to go. They had 55-seconds over the peloton when the ascent kicked off.

Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) was seen at the back of the field. This prompted Porte to attack and make his way through the remnants of the breakaway. With 3-kms remaining, Yates had only two chums up front with him. Porte made the junction soon after.


The two Anglophones headed into the final 2-km alone. Porte led out the sprint but Yates was equal to him and then surged ahead for his third victory of the year.

Froome came in over a minute down on the duo.

Sunday is the conclusion of the 71st Tour de Romandie, a 18.3-km time trial in Lausanne dominated by a mild 7-km climb. The final stage would seem to favour Porte.


2017 Tour de Romandie Stage 4
1) Simon Yates (Great Britain/Orica-Scott) 4:10:03
2) Richie Porte (Australia/BMC) s.t.
3) Emanuel Buchmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:30

2017 Tour de Romandie GC
1) Simon Yates (Great Britain/Orica-Scott) 15:50:35
2) Richie Porte (Australia/BMC) +0:19
3) Emanuel Buchmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:38