Tour de Romandie 2025 - Stage 4: Team UAE taken by surprise: Martinez wins the queen stage and takes yellow
Thomas Huber
· 03.05.2025
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious) took the lead in the overall standings of the Tour de Romandie 2025 at the Thyon 2000 ski station. The Frenchman came onto the finishing straight together with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) and showed the necessary agility after a climb of over 20 kilometres. Before the final left-hand bend, he left Almeida's slipstream and overtook the Portuguese rider. Although the latter did not give in on the final straight and tried to counterattack, Almeida was unable to overtake the Frenchman in the end. With the stage win, Lenny Martinez also takes over the jersey from the previous overall leader Alex Baudin (EF Education - EasyPost).
UAE Team Emirates cannot shake off Martinez
On the final climb to Thyon 2000, some riders had problems early on: Not only David Gaudu (Groupama - FDJ) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) had to break away early, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) also had to bury his hopes of a stage win before the finale was decisively rung in.
When the group of favourites had dwindled to seven riders, two riders took control: Jay Vine and João Almeida, team-mates from UAE Team Emirates - XRG. With alternating leads, they tried to crush their rivals and play off their numerical superiority against the other remaining team captains. They succeeded for the most part - but one rider put up a successful fight: Lenny Martinez. With 4 kilometres to go, he was the only one able to follow Almeida's increase in pace, so that the duo reached the finishing straight together. There, Martinez crowned his strong performance. He took the lead in the overall standings. He now leads the classification just ahead of Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team) and João Almeida. The overall victory is therefore likely to be decided the following day in the final time trial at the Tour de Romandie 2025.
Tour de Romandie 2025 - Results of the 4th stage
Stage 4: Sion - Thyon 2000
Tour de Romandie 2025: Stage 4, Sion - Thyon 2000
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bahrain - Victorious | 03:43:46 |
| 2 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | +00:00:00 |
| 3 | XDS Astana Team | +00:00:29 |
| 4 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | +00:00:31 |
| 5 | INEOS Grenadiers | +00:00:31 |
| 6 | Arkéa - B&B Hotels | +00:01:11 |
How the 4th stage of the Tour de Romandie 2025 went
The 4th stage of the Tour de Romandie, starting in Sion, was only supposed to cover 128.2 kilometres, but with the finish in Thyon 2000 it was also the queen stage of the tour. The final climb to the ski station stretched over 20.8 kilometres and was almost eight per cent steep on average. A preliminary decision in the battle for the overall classification was to be made here.
The first attacks followed immediately after the start of the race. Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla), but also Sam Oomen (Lidl - Trek) and Louis Barré (Intermarché - Wanty), among others, tried to initiate a breakaway. After more than ten kilometres, the group of the day was formed. In addition to the committed Barré, Julien Bernard (Lidl - Trek) and Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), the holder of the mountain jersey, had also made it into the group.
Zwiehoff before winning the mountain classification
The German Zwiehoff won all four mountain classifications along the way. He therefore not only extended his lead in the special classification, but will also win the Tour's mountain classification if he finishes the final time trial of the Tour de Romandie 2025 the following day.
After Zwiehoff's job on the mountains was done, he dropped into the peloton. When he was swallowed up by the peloton 32 kilometres before the finish, the leading duo Bernard-Barré only had a lead of just over a minute. The UAE Team Emirates - XRG in particular took care of the chase for long stretches. At most, they allowed the escapees an interim lead of just over two minutes.
Going into the final climb to Thyon 2000, Team Lotto took command of the peloton. It didn't take long for the first riders in the peloton to run into problems: The overall leader Alex Baudin (EF Education - EasyPost) dropped out of the peloton 15 kilometres before the finish, and David Gaudu (Groupama - FDJ) also had to bury his hopes of winning the stage.
Evenepoel has no chance
A short time later, the last remaining breakaway was also over: Julian Bernard was caught by Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto), who led the peloton for a long time. Finlay Pickering (Bahrain - Victorious) then took over with around nine kilometres to go. First Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) had problems, then co-favourite Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) also had to leave the leading group.
After around 7.5 kilometres, there were only seven riders at the front. The two riders from UAE Team Emirates - XRG João Almeida and Jay Vine took command from then on and quickly managed to distance themselves from several riders. After a few moments, only Lenny Martinez and Lorenzo Fortunato were left with the UAE duo. With 4 kilometres to go, Almeida stepped up the pace - only Martinez was able to stay on the Portuguese rider's wheel. There was a gap behind him. The duo rode together onto the finishing straight, where Martinez secured the stage win ahead of Almeida. Fortunato crossed the finish line in third place. He was the fastest of the chasing trio, which consisted of the Italian, Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) and Jay Vine.
