Tour de Suisse - Stage 4: Almeida celebrates impressive solo victory
João Almeida from UAE Team Emirates - XRG celebrated a convincing solo victory on the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse. The Portuguese professional cyclist pulled away from his rivals on the 8.8 kilometre climb to the Splügen Pass and rode the last 49 kilometres alone at the front. After a strong performance on the mountainous route, Almeida reached the finish in Piuro, Italy, with a lead of 40 seconds over his pursuers. Oscar Onley from Team Picnic PostNL and Ben O'Connor from Team Jayco AlUla took second and third place.
Strong team performance enables Almeida's attack
His team, UAE Team Emirates - XRG, laid the foundations for Almeida's victory with a strong lead-out on the Splügen Pass. The team controlled the race and neutralised the remaining breakaway riders before Jan Christen put his captain in the perfect position. Almeida took advantage of the support and increased the pace 1.8 kilometres before the summit. Instead of launching an explosive attack, the Portuguese rider pulled away from his rivals at a consistently high pace. Oscar Onley and Felix Gall from the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team were the last riders who were unable to keep up with the pace.
Almeida defends lead on long descent
After crossing the Splügen Pass, Almeida had to defend his lead on the long descent and the flat final section. The 26-year-old was in excellent form and kept the pace high. The lack of co-operation in the chasing group also played into Almeida's hands. Oscar Onley and Ben O'Connor were only able to break away from the group around five kilometres before the finish, but the Portuguese rider's lead was too big. After 49 kilometres at the front, Almeida crossed the finish line in Piuro as the solo winner.
Grégoire defends yellow jersey despite losing time
The previous overall leader Romain Grégoire from Team Groupama - FDJ had to break away on the Splügen Pass, but fought his way back into the group of favourites on the descent. Despite being one minute behind stage winner Almeida, the Frenchman defended the yellow jersey. His toughest rival Kévin Vauquelin from the Arkéa - B&B Hotels team was also in this group, so there were no major shifts at the top of the overall standings. With the fifth stage on Thursday, the riders have another challenging mountain stage ahead of them, which could bring further changes in the classification.
