A reversal of the situation this Saturday at the end of the 4th stage of the Tour de Romandie where the Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) let slip his leader’s jersey which he had been wearing since the day before in favor of his compatriot Carlos Rodriguez, third at the finish.
Victory on this queen stage, which led to the summit of Leysin, went to the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, author of a sharp attack two kilometers from the line, but who got a big scare in the last meters seeing the astonishing Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe) pounce on him.
Martinez drops the general
As expected, everything came down to the final ramps of Leysin (13.8 km at 6% and passages at 12%). The Colombian Egan Bernal was the first to shake up the group of favorites by accelerating five kilometers from the summit, thus playing the card of his leader Rodriguez. An acceleration which was ultimately fatal for Ayuso, completely in distress three miles from the finish, while among the first in the general standings, Ilan van Wilder (Soudal-Quick Step) and Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) also lost their footing. Only 11th on the stage and now 8th overall, 52” behind Rodriguez, the young French climber has surely lost all his chances of getting on the podium of the Swiss event.
Before the big explanation of the day between the main favorites on the slopes of Leysin, Clément Berthet (26 years old) performed a real soloist number which would undoubtedly have deserved a better outcome. The only survivor of the morning escape and leaving alone 52 kilometers from the goal, the climber from the Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale team opened the route for a long time, to the point of having been virtual leader, before surrendering just five kilometers from the arrival.
