Athletes on Friday measured 165.1 kilometers with five third-category climbs.
Neiland (Israel – Premier Tech) won the first mountain finish in the first mountain finish after 15 kilometers, ahead of the Estonian Rhine Taramee, and another four kilometers with two Frenchmen, Remi Kavanja (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and No Peters. AG2R Citroen “) went into the air.
After 30.5 kilometers, Neiland won the second intermediate finish in the mountains, overtaking Cavan and Peters, while the Jumbo-Visma team pulled the big group forward.
After 60 kilometers, Neiland also won the third mountain finish, this time taking Peter’s second place.
This put the Latvian cyclist with 15 points in the first place in the list of the best mountain riders of the tour, surpassing the current leader Frenchman Tomas Champion.
In the sprint intermediate finish, Neilands was second, conceding in Cavanja, but leading in the second place in the intermediate finish points after Skujiņa, who has 30 points.
Neiland was again the fastest in the mountain intermediate finish, reviving in Cavanja in the next sprint intermediate finish and rising to fifth place in the sprinters list.
57 kilometers before the finish, the refugees reached the biggest advantage over the big group on this bike ride this year – four minutes and 13 seconds.
20 kilometers before the finish, Peters tried to escape from the companions, but after a kilometer the refugees were caught by a large group.
Three kilometers before the finish, Tāramee tried to escape from the big group, but was caught one kilometer before the finish.
The fastest in the big group was Neiland’s teammate Patrick Bevin from New Zealand, who was ahead of Britain’s Ineos Grenadiers and Australian Roen Denis (Jumbo-Visma), all finishing in three hours 53 minutes and 27 seconds.
Toms Skujiņš (“Trek – Segafredo”) finished in 65th place, one minute and 49 seconds behind the winner, but after finishing the escape attempt, Neilands was behind and finished in 83rd place, with Bevin losing six minutes and four seconds.
In the overall standings is Dennis, who is 14 seconds ahead of Bevin and 18 seconds ahead of Felix Grossartner of Austria (“BORA – Hansgrohe”).
In the competition of 131 athletes, Neilands takes the 62nd place, the leader losing seven minutes and 39 seconds, but Skujiņš is in the 70th place ten minutes and four seconds behind the leader.
In the evaluation of the King of the Mountains, Neilands is 20 points ahead of Champion, who has 15 points, but Skujiņš is 14th.
In the sprinters’ evaluation, Neilands rose to the eighth place with 31 points, but Skujiņš is the ninth with 30 points. The leader with 110 points is Heiters.
On Saturday, cyclists will measure 180.1 kilometers with five first- and second-category climbs, as well as two sprint intermediate finishes.
The romance tour will end on Sunday.
Last year’s winner was British cyclist Geraint Thomas, who is currently ranked 24th, 34 seconds behind Denis.
The “Tour de Romandie” is taking place for the 75th time in history. In 1995, Pjotr Ugrjumov, representing Latvia, took the third place in the overall rating of the Romance cycling trip.
