ZINAL, Switzerland – Young Colombian Sergio Higuita (Bora Hansgrohe) won the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie in Zinal on Saturday, which allowed Australian Rohan Dennis to consolidate his green jersey on the eve of the finish.
If the 180.1 km and 4160 m of elevation gain from Aigle gave hope for an explanation between favorites, the victory was finally decided in the sprint between twenty survivors of the suffocating train imposed by the Jumbo-Visma of Dennis.
In this game, the recent winner of the Tour of Catalonia, a small climber (1.66 m) aged 24, sprang 200 meters from the line to beat his Russian teammate Aleksandr Vlasov by a hair, who gains six places overall. and settled on the podium, 18 seconds behind the Australian.
“Today I was always behind Vlasov because he was the leader, I was ready in case he had a failure. In the final, the sprint started on the right and I passed on the left, I saw that he was in my wheel and I gave it my all,” Higuita explained to the RTS.
The great Spanish hopeful Juan Ayuso (Team UAE Emirates), 19, took third place in the stage, scraping four places overall to stall 15 seconds behind Rohan Dennis. Thibaut Pinot, too short in the final, finished fifth.
Rohan Dennis, 11th 3 seconds behind Higuita, never saw his green jersey threatened as his teammates stifled all opposition, controlling a breakaway that started in the Rhone Valley before skimming the peloton on the long climb to Zinal.
The Australian is ideally placed before the 16 km time trial including 11 km of ascent on Sunday towards the resort of Villars, a specialty of which he is double world champion (2018 and 2019).
Main victim of the day after having already received a 20-second penalty on Wednesday for a bottle outside the authorized zone, the outgoing winner Geraint Thomas found himself isolated and dropped in the final ascent, finishing 27th.
In general, the Welshman from Ineos is now 1 min 55 behind Dennis, three ranks ahead of Thibaut Pinot (26th at 2 min 05).
Ranking of the 4th stage :
1. Sergio Higuita (COL / BOR) the 180.1 km in 4 h 58:52.
(average: 36.3 km/h)
2. Aleksander Vlasov (/BOR) mt
3. Juan Ayuso (ESP/UAE) mt
4. Ben O’Connor (AUS/AG2) mt
5. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/GFJ) mt
6. Michael Woods (CAN/ISR) mt
7. Gino Mäder (SUI/BAH) mt
8. Sebastien Reichenbach (SUI/GFJ) mt
9. Simon Geschke (GER/COF) mt
10. Carlos Verona (ESP/MOV) mt
General classification after the 4th stage :
1. Rohan Dennis (AUS/Jumbo) 5:27:01 p.m.
2. Juan Ayuso (ESP/UAE) at 15.
3. Alexander Vlasov (/BOR) 18.
4. Ben O’Connor (AUS/AG2) 25.
5. Lucas Plapp (AUS/INE) 30.
6. Gino Mäder (SUI/BAH) 32.
7. Sebastien Reichenbach (SUI/GFJ) 37.
8. Neilson Powless (USA/EF1) 41.
9. Simon Geschke (GER/COF) 42.
10. Steff Crass (BEL/LOT) 45.
