Torstein Træen attacked from the day’s breakaway to win his first professional victory on stage four of the Tour de Suisse.
The Bahrain Victorious rider went up the road 156km from the finish, and was the final surviving man from the eight-strong break. He narrowly held off Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) to take the win. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) finished third.
Yates, meanwhile, took second after attacking from the group of favourites with about 4km to go, and put time into his rivals. He now takes over the race lead and the yellow jersey.
It meant all the more for Bahrain Victorious, as this race is a year on from the death of Gino Mäder at the same event.
“To be honest, no,” Træen said when asked if understood what he had achieved. “I was saying yesterday, a doctor asked me how I was, and I said ‘I’m good, but I don’t have legs’. It’s obviously special. It’s for Gino, on the Gino mountain. Ride for Gino.
“It means the world,” he said of the significance of win in terms of remembering Mäder. “He was still a colleague, and we still miss him. In this team it’s super special, we always want to ride for him. On a day like this, when his mum is also here, it’s super special.”
The win is all the more special for Træen, given just two years ago he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, something he was successfully treated for.
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After Wednesday, Yates heads into the final four testing stages in yellow.
“It would have been nice if there was nobody up the road,” Yates said of stage four. “I think I showed I have good legs. I wasn’t super confident about the cobbled section. I get bounced around on the cobbles. The legs are good, the team is good, so it’s a good day.
“Today was meant to be more calm, but I felt good, and if you have good legs you have to take the opportunity. Maybe tomorrow the legs aren’t the same, so you have to try.”
How it happened
Stage four of the Tour de Suisse was the first proper climbing test of the race, with an almighty battle for the day’s break coming as a result.
Attacks within the first 10km were quickly shut down, with almost every team attempting to get up the road. Notably for later, UAE Team Emirates were one of the few squads not to be active at this point.
With 156km to go, eight riders went clear: Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious), Roland Thalmann (Tudor), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Gerben Kuypers and Lilian Calmejane ( both Intermarché-Wanty), and Jan Sommer (Switzerland).
The presence of Matthews and Coquard was interesting, both ostensibly being sprinters.
The eight-strong group’s gap quickly built up to well over five minutes.
With 77km to go, race leader Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) crashed after changing his bike.
As the day’s final test awaited, the climb to the Gotthard Pass, things started to fracture in the break. First, Calmejane attacked, with Sommer being dropped. Matthews yo-yoed off the back and front of what was left of the break.
With 25km to go, seven riders remained at the front, with 5:50 on the peloton.
With just over 11km to go, Træen and Thalmann were the last riders left up the road. Shortly after, Træen attacked to go alone.
Further down the climb, the peloton shed many riders to become merely a group of favourites. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) briefly attacked.
However, it was with 3.9km to go, when Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) attacked that things started to be shaken up. Yates quickly gained time on Træen, alone up front, but it was still a big gap to bridge.
Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) were the next to drop their other rivals, although they were still behind Yates.
Træen ended up crossing the line in first, 23 seconds ahead of Yates, who in turn finished 25 seconds ahead of Skjelmose and Almeida.
Results
Tour de Suisse stage four: Rüschlikon > Gotthard Pass (171km)
1. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain-Victorious, in 4:10:21
2. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, +23s
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +48s
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at same time
5. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:00
6. Oscar Onley (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +1:27
7. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar
8. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
10. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, all at same time
General classification after stage four
1. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, 11:50:08
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +26s
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at same time
4. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:00
5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:15
6. Oscar Onley (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +1:17
7. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, at same time
8. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:21
9. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:25
8. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +1:42
