DISCUSSION | Tour de Romandie stage 4 - Did the organiser's motorcycles help Pogacar? Is the Slovenian overweight for the Tour? Roglic a nuisance?

Tadej Pogacar delivered another commanding performance at the Tour de Romandie, claiming his third stage victory with a decisive solo move on the final ascent to Jaunpass.

The Slovenian world champion once again underlined his dominance in the mountains, tightening his grip on the general classification. Florian Lipowitz emerged as the closest challenger on the day, limiting his losses admirably to finish second, fourteen seconds adrift.

The early days of the race had already tested the peloton with significant climbing, but this stage marked a clear escalation. Riders faced a demanding route featuring three ascents of the Jaunpass, each approached from a different side.

The final climb, tackled from Garstatt, stretched over 8.1 kilometres at an average gradient of 8.3%, with the summit positioned just sixteen kilometres from the finish in Charmey, a perfect launchpad for late attacks.

As expected, the stage ignited. An initial breakaway of eight riders formed, including Bauke Mollema and Louis Vervaeke, but the group quickly fragmented on the first passage of the Jaunpass. Mollema was among the early casualties. Behind them, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe raised the tempo in the peloton, setting the stage for a more aggressive phase of racing.

That acceleration triggered a move from Primoz Roglic, who had little to lose after slipping more than five minutes behind Pogacar in the standings. He bridged across alongside Valentin Paret-Peintre and Marco Brenner, eventually forming a new front group of eight riders, also featuring Michael Leonard, Maxime Decomble, Roland Thalmann and Florian Samuel Kajamini.

The race continued to evolve over the second ascent of the Jaunpass, where Kajamini and Brenner were dropped. The remaining six riders built a maximum advantage of around three minutes, but UAE Team Emirates - XRG kept the situation under control, reducing the gap to roughly ninety seconds heading into the final phase.

On the Saanenmoser Pass, the penultimate climb, the pace intensified once more. Decomble and Thalmann were the next to be distanced, leaving four leaders to tackle the decisive climb. Their advantage had dwindled to around a minute as they began the final ascent of the Jaunpass.

Roglic and Paret-Peintre proved strongest among the escapees in the early slopes, with Leonard struggling to maintain contact. But the peloton, driven relentlessly by UAE Team Emirates - XRG, was closing in fast. With around twenty seconds separating the groups and just over three kilometres remaining to the summit, Tadej Pogacar made his move.

The reaction was immediate and brutal. Pogacar bridged across to the leaders in one fluid acceleration. Florian Lipowitz, Lenny Martinez and Jorgen Nordhagen attempted to follow, but only Lipowitz managed to briefly hold the Slovenian’s wheel after the junction was made.

Any hopes of a duel were short lived. Just over a kilometre from the summit, Pogacar accelerated once more, this time decisively. Lipowitz was forced to concede, and within moments the gap had stretched beyond twenty seconds.

From there, it was a display of control and precision. Tadej Pogacar maintained his advantage on the descent and navigated the final ten kilometres with authority, sealing a third stage victory in emphatic fashion. Florian Lipowitz crossed the line in second place, a respectable fourteen seconds behind, confirming his strong form.

Further back, a larger group contested the remaining podium position. Notably absent was Carlos Rodríguez, who crashed during the descent. Fortunately, despite the speed of the fall, the Spaniard was able to remount quickly and continue, avoiding what could have been a far more serious outcome.

With another stage win secured and his overall lead extended, Pogacar continues to dictate the race in Romandie, leaving his rivals searching for answers as the race approaches its conclusion.

Here I go again talking about Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe and Primoz Roglic. I genuinely don’t understand what was going through the team director’s mind today. Whenever Roglic lines up in a race, Red Bull just looks like a lost cause.

One team, seven riders, two completely different plans. One plan for Roglic, another for the rest. The Slovenian simply doesn’t give a drop of sweat for his teammates. Today he went in the breakaway. Fine. But what for? Everyone already knew that UAE wasn’t going to give any room or let a move like that succeed. They had a clear plan, and that plan was to bring Pogacar to the third ascent of the Jaunpass, where he would launch his attack.

Roglic is becoming a burden that Red Bull need to get rid of sooner rather than later. As I’ve said before, they should redefine his calendar and send him to smaller races.

As for the rest, Pogacar said after the stage something along the lines of “I’m carrying extra weight.” But he already knows that. To compete in the Classics, he has to put on weight, build muscle.

Now it’s about reversing that process, because for the Tour de France it’s a different story. But he and UAE know exactly what they’re doing. One less baguette during training and the problem sorts itself out quickly.

As for the others, Florian Lipowitz was extremely solid in his response to Pogacar on the final climb and, over the top, he made full use of his time trial abilities to limit the gaps to the world champion.

Martinez and Nordhagen also tried to react to the Slovenian’s acceleration, but it never went beyond intent. It became clear that on hard days, with fatigue starting to build, they simply can’t match the leader of UAE Team Emirates - XRG.

I’ll just throw this out there. Did anyone else notice the race motos once again seemingly protecting Pogacar? Maybe it’s just me nitpicking, but I’ve got a strong feeling it happened again today. I also saw several riders at the finish complaining about the motorbikes. They pointed to the fact they lost nearly a minute in a very short space of time as evidence. Isn’t this becoming a bit too much of a recurring issue? What are the race commissaires actually doing?

Business as usual I would say. It's not something we didn't expect, but UAE's domination over Romandie has been complete. The lineup did not look overly strong, and Tadej Pogacar has said he also has a few extra Kg which explains his lack of total uphill domination.

No tactics, nothing to really analyze, just a team that knows what works and delivered their leader who is the strongest in the race. The lack of major differences created won't be a worry, he is not at his best form and also spent the spring working on his explosiveness.

In May and June is when someone like him and Remco Evenepoel will lose weight in order to perform better in the mountains with the Tour de France in sight. On the contrary Florian Lipowitz did look very good, keeping up with the World Champion almost all the way to the summit, in the race where he broke through two years ago.

A more 'traditional' build-up, the German's form has improved all spring long and here he would dominate the GC if Pogacar weren't present. A truly great performance that cements him as a very promising returning face to the Tour de France podium.

Lenny Martínez didn't have as great of a day today and so was nowhere near the front when it mattered the most, but otherwise he remains on the podium so he won't be too disappointed, it's the best result he can achieve in this race. The rest of the field is very modest. Tomorrow's summit finish can still deliver some action but don't expect it to be much different than today's.

Tadej Pogacar did what he had to do on the final climb of the Jaunpass. When Primoz Roglic and Valentin Paret-Peintre were the last survivors of the breakaway, the modern-day great launched his first acceleration from the favourites group, and only Florian Lipowitz was able to follow. Then, near the top, the two-time world champion kicked again, dropping the German and setting off towards his third stage win.

An outstanding Pablo Castrillo, riding for Movistar Team, finished third, or best of the “mortals.” On the other side of the coin was fellow Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez, who suffered a heavy crash. Even if he manages to get back on the bike tomorrow, a top-10 will be a big ask.

After the queen stage, with more climbing still to come on the final day, Tadej Pogacar is ruling with an iron grip. He leaves no room for anyone on endurance-heavy stages, where he stands alongside Jonas Vingegaard as the benchmark. And not even on more open days, where in this Tour de Romandie, Dorian Godon briefly turned into Mathieu van der Poel to make things difficult.

Will the Slovenian close out the Swiss race without giving his rivals a moment’s relief?