June 13/17 17:35 pm - Tour de Suisse: Stage 4
Posted by Editoress on 06/13/17
Tour de Suisse Stage 4 featured the first of three summit finishes in this year's race and saw a showdown of the GC contenders with Damiano Caruso becoming the third BMC Racing Team rider to take the yellow jersey in Switzerland.
After the race had rolled through the heart of Bern, the flag was dropped and immediately riders began to set a fast pace at the front with a number of breakaway attempts quickly pulled back.
Eventually, after 14km, of the 150.2km course, four riders were able to break free from the peloton and began to build up an advantage which reached almost eight minutes by 34 km.
With the road beginning to rise toward the Col des Mosses, the gap started to fall but, as the race headed over the summit of the category one climb (with 30km to go) the three remaining leaders were still five minutes ahead of the peloton.
As the main bunch reached the final hors categorie climb, Villars-sur-Ollon,- they were dramatically cutting into the advantage of the breakaway which quickly split up on the steeper slopes with Larry Warbasse (AquaBlue Sport) riding solo at the front.
The first attack from the peloton came with less than 7km to go but BMC Racing Team reacted quickly with Tejay van Garderen closing the gap before moving to the front with Caruso tucked onto his wheel.
An acceleration from Caruso saw a group of six riders go clear before they began to attack one another inside 3km to go.
Up ahead, Warbasse was going under the flamme rouge with an advantage of just under one minute which would ultimately prove to be enough to take the stage win.
As the AquaBlue Sport rider crossed the line, the racing continued behind with Caruso looking powerful as he sprinted towards the finish line to take second on the stage, ahead of Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNL-Jumbo), and move into the overall race lead.
Team BMC report
Top Canada was Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) finishing 51st at 4:29 back and sits 25th in the GC, at 5:26.
Results from the fourth stage in Switzerland
| Stage 4: Bern to Villars-sur-Ollon, 150.2 km | |
| 1 Larry Warbasse (USA) Aqua Blue Sport | 3:48:55 |
| 2 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team | at 0:40 |
| 3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | |
| 4 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin | both s.t. |
| 5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:44 |
| 6 Mathias Frank (Sui) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:47 |
| 7 Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar Team | 0:59 |
| 8 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team | 1:07 |
| 9 Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky | 1:20 |
| 10 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 1:34 |
| 11 Pello Bilbao (Esp) Astana Pro Team | s.t. |
| 12 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 1:44 |
| 13 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky | 2:00 |
| 14 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin | 2:02 |
| 15 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 16 Victor De La Parte (Esp) Movistar Team | 2:12 |
| 17 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data | 2:27 |
| 18 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | 2:45 |
| 19 Steve Morabito (Sui) FDJ | s.t. |
| 20 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 2:49 |
| 31 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team | 4:29 |
| 49 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Direct Energie | 8:13 |
| 74 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale | 12:47 |
| 126 Ryan Anderson (Can) Direct Energie | 18:16 |
| GC | |
| 1 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team | 12:08:35 |
| 2 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | at 0:15 |
| 3 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:24 |
| 4 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin | s.t. |
| 5 Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar Team | 0:31 |
| 6 Mathias Frank (Sui) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:33 |
| 7 Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky | 1:09 |
| 8 (Por) UAE Team Emirates (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 1:10 |
| 9 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 1:20 |
| 10 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team | 1:25 |
| 11 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky | 1:37 |
| 12 Pello Bilbao (Esp) Astana Pro Team | 1:38 |
| 13 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 1:40 |
| 14 Victor De La Parte (Esp) Movistar Team | 2:04 |
| 15 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | 2:20 |
| 16 Steve Morabito (Sui) FDJ | 2:21 |
| 17 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data | 2:23 |
| 18 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie | 3:09 |
| 19 Carlos Verona (Esp) Orica-Scott | 3:30 |
| 20 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | 3:59 |
| 25 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team | 5:26 |
| 43 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale | 12:41 |
| 72 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Direct Energie | 19:02 |
| 140 Ryan Anderson (Can) Direct Energie | 34:15 |
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