Michael Woods wins Tour de Romandie’s brutal queen stage, takes over race lead
Geraint Thomas crashes in sight of the line sprinting with the Canadian
On a thrilling, brutal penultimate stage of the Tour de Romandie, Michael Woods took the victory and assumed the race lead. Woods was in a two-up sprint with Geraint Thomas when the Brit crashed with 30 metres to the line. Thomas had been on his way to taking over the race lead from Marc Soler, but finished 21 seconds after the Canadian and now trails Woods by 11 seconds.
The Route
There was plenty of climbing in the rain on Saturday. Five categorized climbs awaited the riders over 161 km, including three Cat. 1 ascents. The 11.1, 7.6 percent Suen climb was the penultimate offering, leading to the mountain top finish of Thyon 2000, 20.8 km of 7.6 percent.
Five classified climbs, a very hard summit finish and over 4000 meters of vertical climbing – all this is in store today at #TDR2021. pic.twitter.com/eYyzAu4yiS
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) May 1, 2021
What happened on Friday?
In even worse conditions than Saturday’s, Marc Soler (Spain/Movistar) silenced his critics by attacking on the final climb of the day after a failed move from Woods. Soler earned the win and nabbed the yellow jersey. Race leader Rohan Dennis, who had been working for the GC aspirations of teammates Thomas and Richie Porte on Thursday, crashed late and came in in a group +1:21 of Soler. Woods was +0:22 and climbed to 16th from 21st.
Marc Soler s’impose en solo à Estavayer ! ? @Movistar_Team #TDR2021 pic.twitter.com/Q82QMXunEX
— Tour de Romandie (@TourDeRomandie) April 30, 2021
On Saturday a group of seven bounced away on the first climb, Chamoson. By the top of the Suen, with Movistar and the Swiss national team whipping up the pace behind them, the fugitives tipped over with a 3:30 lead. Escapee Kobe Goossens of Lotto-Soudal took over the KOM lead from Joel Suter.
Word came that the first 3 km of descent of Suen would be neutralized because of heavy fog. The car neutralizing the breakaway was faster than the car holding back the peloton, so the gap increased again.
#TDR2021 – 47 to go, 4'05''
According to organizer decision, descent will be neutralized#LFRLive
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) May 1, 2021
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) May 1, 2021
Thyon 2000
The fugitives started the big final climb with a 5:30 lead and there was no moving it for the first few kilometres, even with Movistar and Ineos swapping on the front of the peloton. Goossens was +1:42 of Soler and his breakmate Magnus Cort (Denmark/EF Education-Nippo) was only +0:59. Cort and Simone Petilli were the last breakaways standing.
Cort absolutely dominating in the break today at @tourderomandie. About 11 km to go! ? ?
?: @gettysport pic.twitter.com/t8culxJcDI
— EF Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) May 1, 2021
Woods almost ditched ‘er taking off his rain jacket.
Cort went solo out front.
Marc Soler decided to attack with 6.5 km to go. Woods marked him. Nothing came of it.
Cort was beginning to slow down, bringing Petilli closer. The next rider to try to get clear of the tiny yellow jersey group was Lucas Hamilton. Woods joined him and then bolted.
Petilli cruised past Cort with 4 km to climb. Woods then nabbed and dispatched the Italian.
Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën), Fausto Masnada (Colombia/Deceuninck-Quick Step) and Thomas closed on the Canadian. Thomas found Woods with 2.2 km to go.
O’Connor couldn’t hang. Thomas led under the red kite. Incredibly, just as the sprint started, Thomas crashed and struggled to cross the line about 21 seconds later, later saying that he tried to change gears but couldn’t feel his hands.
Woods faces a daunting final day 16.1-km time trial on Sunday.
2021 Tour de Romandie Stage 4
1) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) 4:58:35
2) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën) +0:17
3) Geraint Thomas (Britain/Ineos-Grenadiers) +0:21
Tour de Romandie GC
1) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) 17:37:35
2) Geraint Thomas (Britain/Ineos-Grenadiers) +0:11
3) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën) +0:21