“Tomorrow is one of the biggest mountain stages ever” - Tadej Pogacar fires Tour de Suisse warning after denying Mathieu van der Poel in time trial thriller

Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de Suisse stage 4 time trial by four hundredths of a second, then immediately turned his attention to a final mountain stage he described as “one of the biggest” ever.

The UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider was the last man down the ramp in Aarburg and stopped the clock in 26:37.99 across the 23.7-kilometre course. Mathieu van der Poel had been sitting in the hotseat with 26:38.03, but Pogacar found just enough in the final kilometres to take his second stage win of the race by the narrowest possible margin.

The result tightened Pogacar’s grip on the general classification before Sunday’s finale to Villars-sur-Ollon.

Richard Carapaz remains second overall, now 4:22 down, while Mathias Vacek has moved up to third at 4:27 after another strong day against the clock.

Van der Poel’s ride had looked strong enough to survive for much of the afternoon. The Alpecin - Premier Tech rider went faster than Tim Wellens at the intermediate split and carried that pace to the finish, producing his clearest performance of a relatively quiet Tour de Suisse so far.

Tobias Foss came closest among the later starters, finishing third at 6.7 seconds, while Vacek faded from his strong opening split to finish fourth at 10.8 seconds. Wellens completed the top five at 12.2 seconds after setting the earlier benchmark for UAE.

Pogacar said afterwards that he was not fully aware he was fighting for the stage victory during the final part of his ride. “It was really hot out there, and a really fast parcours,” Pogacar said at the finish. “I felt great. Good legs. I didn't know that I was fighting for the win; I just wanted to give it all. I knew I was close, but after the intermediate point, I didn't know any more time [gaps]. I was just trying to go all-out to the finish, and I managed to do it well, and I'm super happy to take the win.”

Pogacar has now won two stages at this year’s Tour de Suisse, while UAE Team Emirates - XRG have taken three of the first four after Jhonatan Narvaez’s stage 3 victory in Bad Ragaz.

The final day changes the race completely. After a flat and brutally fast time trial in Aarburg, the route turns back towards the mountains, with Pogacar already looking beyond the time trial and towards another chance to test himself before the Tour de France.

“It's a great race, I'm happy to take the second win, and tomorrow we fight for another one,” he continued. “It's a brutal stage, I think, completely different to what we had the last few days, so looking really forward see the legs in the mountains, how they are. Today was a flat TT, tomorrow is one of the biggest mountain stages ever, so I'm really excited to see where I am.”

Van der Poel leaves Aarburg with a near miss rather than the stage win, but also with his strongest performance of the race so far. Pogacar heads to Villars-sur-Ollon with yellow strengthened, another stage victory banked, and one final mountain test still to attack.