Geraint Thomas hasn’t won a race since his Tour de France triumph in 2018 and while the Welshman came back strong with an epic performance in horrible conditions at Tour de Romandie today, he then crashed inside the final 50 metres.
The stage 4 finish, up the 20km climb of Thyon 2000, saw the early breakaway men overhauled in the finale and the favourites’ group shattering under the intensity of the racing and due to the brutal conditions. Mist and rain were the order of the day and even forced the neutralisation of racing in the bunch down one descent for safety reasons.
Eddie Dunbar of Ineos Grenadiers once again rode a great race; his work really helping to thin the peloton down to a select group of about 20 riders before he slipped back with about 7km to go. He eventually finished in 28th at 7:36 but earned his keep today.
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A little later on the climb, Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) initially looked like the strongest of the general classification men; attacking from the select group to overhaul the last of the early breakaway riders.
But just like he has done so often in his career, Thomas
of Ineos Grenadiers timed his effort to perfection on the 20km climb, at an
average seven per cent, to go after Woods.
He dropped everybody else, including his team mates Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis and yellow jersey Marc Soler (Movistar), to catch Woods, leaving just two of them out front. The Welsh-Canadian climbing duo rode up the final couple of kilometres to the summit finish together.
Thomas stepped in to do the bulk of the work, knowing he would take the race leader's yellow jersey and also put time into Woods in tomorrow’s final stage TT.
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But just after the two leaders entered the final 100 metres, sprinting for the line for the stage win, Thomas crashed hard; hitting the tarmac while sprinting uphill just short of the finish line.
It appeared his right hand came off the handlebars in the wet conditions, possibly because he was pulling so hard on the hoods in the sprint. His right hand seemed to fly off his hood and he was then sprawled on the road in an instant.
That meant Woods rode in to take a brilliant win as Thomas scrambled back to his feet to limit his losses. Because the stage finish was uphill, it means he does not avail of the usual rule stating anyone crashing inside the final 3km of a race gets the time as the riders they were with when they fell.
Thomas was then passed by Ben O'Connor, the AG2R Citroën rider who was just behind the two leaders in the finale; with O'Connor taking 2nd on the stage 17 seconds down on Woods. Thomas limped over the finish line in 3rd place, 21 seconds down on Woods, meaning it was the Canadian rider who now takes the race lead.
Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange) was 4th on the stage today, at 34 seconds, followed by Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in 5th at 37 seconds. Porte and Ion Izagirre (Astana-Premier Tech) were then 6th and 7th on the same time, at 42 seconds. Race leader Soler, who was attacking the select group about halfway up the climb, could only manage 9th at 53 seconds.
The result means Woods - who gained time on Thomas and took the 10-second time bonus for stage victory - now leads overall from Thomas by 11 seconds. O'Connor is 3rd at 21 seconds and Soler has slipped to 4th at 33 seconds, with Porte in 5th at 36 seconds.
As long as Thomas is not injured and can start tomorrow in good physical condition he should overhaul the 11 seconds Woods now has over him. And Porte, given his TT prowess, would be fancied to move up to 2nd place in the final overall after tomorrow's 16km concluding TT.
Magnus Cort (EF Education-Nippo), who started the stage just 59 seconds off yellow, was in the early breakaway and put in a brave bid for stage victory. The escapees enjoyed a lead of about five minutes on the peloton deep into the final climb, with Cort pressing ahead alone on the climb in search of victory and the yellow jersey.
However, his challenge fell apart in the final 5km, just
as the select group behind was blowing up. Cort was first caught and overtaken
by another of the breakaway men who came back to him, Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert
Matériaux).
However, just as
the lead changed between the two leaders with 4km to go, both early breakaway
men were caught by the strongest GC riders coming up the climb behind them at a
much faster rate; Petilli eventually finishing in 12th at 2:20 and Cort blowing
and finishing back in 25th at 6:64.
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