04 May 2019

Thomas third on queen stage

Related riders

Geraint Thomas

Tour de Romandie – Stage four: Lucens – Torgon, 107.6km

Geraint Thomas continued a string of strong performances after claiming third place on the queen stage at the Tour de Romandie.

The Welshman battled it out at the head of the race in the final kilometres, digging deep to shut down the gap to leader Primoz Roglic ahead of the final kilometre. The Slovenian (Jumbo-Visma) had one more acceleration in him and was able to claim the victory, with Thomas taking third on the weather-shortened stage to elevate himself back into fourth overall.

The Team INEOS rider now sits 26 seconds off the lead heading into Sunday’s time trial finale, with the overall podium firmly in his sights.

With the threat of cold temperatures, high winds and even snow, the decision was taken to dramatically alter the parcours of the queen stage, taking a shorter and more direct route to the final climb in Torgon.

With the stage 70 kilometres shorter there was still a sizeable group present as the race hit the climb, with Filippo Ganna drilling the pace into the foot of the 10km final test.

Kenny Elissonde took it up, before Diego Rosa and and Dylan van Baarle increased the tempo, hauling back the last of the day’s eight-man break in the process.

With 2km to go Roglic made his move, with Thomas showing his improving form to bridge across the gap on the way to a solid finish.

Stage four result:

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 2:42:21
2. Rui Costa (UAE-Team Emirates) s.t.
3. Geraint Thomas (Team INEOS)
4. Michael Woods (EF Education First)
5. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ)

Overall standings:

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 15:05:13
2. Rui Costa (UAE-Team Emirates) +12"
3. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +16"
4. Geraint Thomas (Team INEOS) +26"
5. Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) +29"