Jakob Fuglsang pulled the trigger going up the final climb and on the way down and won the day. Dan Martin was trapped back the road as the top five riders surged ahead.
Jakob Fuglsang wins Tour de Romandie queen stage
After putting in a strong ride yesterday in the uphill TT, Dan Martin lost group on the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie today.
As the top riders on the general classification rode away from everyone else, Martin was marooned in what was left of the bunch.
He came home in that group - of some 27 riders - over two minutes down on Jakob Fuglsang. The Astana surged ahead of the lead group to win solo.
He was victorious, after 149.2km into Sion, by an impressive 48 seconds ahead of the strongest riders in the race.
In the chasing group behind him were the top four riders on general classification this morning.
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The included race leader Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Egan Bernal (Team Sky). Also present was Richie Porte (BMC) and Rui Costa, a team mate of Dan Martin at UAE Team Emirates.
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The sprint for 2nd place, and the time bonuses for the yellow jersey, was won by the man in that jersey.
Fuglsang and Costa hand gone clear on the final climb, with Bernal attacking what remained of the peloton in their wake.
The Colombian managed to ride clear, but he was matched comfortably by the very impressive Roglic all the way.
Those two would catch and pass the two leaders on the Basse-Nendaz. However, Costa and Porte would then catch them going down the climb, with Fuglsang then also making contact.
And with 15km remaining, though Fuglsang had looked the weakest on the last part of the climb, he put in a decisive attack.
He was not well placed overall and so the other four, who were racing for general classification, let him go.
The Dane simply powered all the way to the finish on his own, with the chasing left to Costa in the group behind. He was the only one of the four chasers whose position in the overall standings was threatened by Fuglsang.
In the end he won it well, with Roglic claiming the sprint for 2nd place from Bernal. With just one stage remaining the latter leads by eight seconds from Bernal, with Porte third at 35 seconds.
Fuglsang not only took the stage win but also leapfrogged Costa into 4th place. Dan Martin lost a couple of places overall; going from eight to 10th at 3:12.
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