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Froome wins queen stage of Tour de Romandie

Froome win's queen stage in soggy conditions.

April 30, 2016
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Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) won’t win his third Tour de Romandie this year, but he’ll be consoled by a victory in Saturday’s sodden queen stage the day after coming 4th in a time trial. Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) staved off attacks from Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ) to retain the race lead with one stage remaining.


There were several breaks in the opening 58-km but none stuck until eleven riders sprung clear before the first Cat. 1 of the day. The grades of the Col des Planches took their toll on the gap, the numbers in the peloton and the numbers in the breakaway. Only three escapees tipped over the top together, with Sander Armée (Belgium/Lotto-Soudal) looking to get his pink KOM jersey back from Quintana.

After Armée grabbed 12-points to give him the KOM lead on the road, the trio plummeted down into the valley below. The gap went out again to 4:00 and three remnants of the earlier breakaway comprised a chase behind Armée and pals. Armée took more KOM points on a Cat. 3 leading to the first of two ascents of the Cat. 1 climb to Villars.

Armée fell off the break during the first trip up to Villars, with Bob Jungels (Luxembourg/Etixx-QuickStep) and Pavel Kochetkov (Russia/Katusha) continuing on in the lead. Cannondale took over the peloton pace-making from Movistar. Winner of the 2010 edition and runner-up over the last three years, Simon Spilak (Slovenia/Katusha) attacked from the field.

Then Froome and Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) launched a high-powered attack. The duo reached the breakaway just before the wet descent began. The new quartet had less than a minute over the Quintana/Pinot group, which contained Spilak and his third-place teammate Ilnur Zakarin.

Ryder Hesjedal, who started the day in 39th place, climbed off the bike.


The escape reached the foot of the final 13-km climb with a 57-second lead. Spilak bolted again, while up ahead first Kochetkov and then Jungels went off the back. The soggy peloton eventually absorbed all three.

Pinot, Zakarin and compatriot Romain Bardet (AG2R) whipped up the pace to fragment the field but they weren’t making inroads into the gap. A thick mist descended over the mountain.

With 7.5-km to go Froome left his American companion, and the irrepressible Spilak took off again in pursuit. Quintana didn’t have to worry too much about Van Garderen and not at all about Froome, but he had to watch Pinot’s accelerations.

Incessant attacks from Pinot, Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/Cannondale), Bauke Mollema (The Netherlands/Trek-Segafredo) and Jon Izagirre (Spain/Movistar) distanced Zakarin for a few minutes and brought Froome a little closer. The chasing group also swept up Van Garderen. Froome only finished four-seconds ahead of Izagirre, who took over third place.

Quintana’s fifth on the day gave him back the King of the Mountains lead.

Sunday’s final stage into Geneva is one for the sprinters.

2016 Tour de Romandie Stage 4
1) Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) 4:44:24
2) Jon Izagirre (Spain/Movistar) +0:04
3) Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ) s.t.
89) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +27:44

2016 Tour de Romandie GC
1) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) 12:07:03
2) Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ) +0:19
3) Jon Izagirre (Spain/Movistar) +0:23
72) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +36:22

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