Tour de Romandie: Juan Ayuso cracks but Adam Yates soars to race lead following queen stage victory

Adam Yates has taken the win on stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie, surging victorious in the race's sole summit finish. The Briton surged to the race lead as teammate Juan Ayuso cracked on the final ascent.

The queen stage featured a strong group going up the road early on with 24 riders. This was a dangerous move despite the toughness of the stage, including 4th and 7th in the GC Nelson Oliveira and Finn Fisher-Black. A lot of the group was absorbed but ten of the riders managed to break clear and establish themselves in the day. Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Antoine Debons (Swiss National Team), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Dstny), Ben Zwiehoff (BORA - handgrohe), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa Samsic), Josef Cerny (Soudal - Quick-Step), Gianmarco Garofoli (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Julien Bernard (Trek - Segafredo), Lawson Craddock and Christopher Juul-Jensen (Team Jayco Alula).

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The group collaborated well but there was some disparity when it came to climbing ability, in the ascent to Suen only De Gendt, Zwiehoff and Jayco duo Craddock and Juul-Jensen remained in front, with a gap of just under 2 minutes to the Groupama-led peloton. Harold Tejada made a move bridging across to Garofoli, but the duo and some of the escapees were caught in the following descent.

The start corner of the final climb saw Michael Woods hit the deck in the peloton, with Brandon Rivera attacking but quickly being caught as UAE Team Emirates hit the front. In the front the four riders attacked each other multiple times, with De Gendt eventually dropping as the remaining riders kept a high pace out front.

They were eventually caught by the peloton with 12 kilometers to go, as Jayco itself pushed the pace for Eddie Dunbar. Soon after Team DSM hit the front of the pack causing further damage. The acceleration began to do serious damage with 8 kilometers to go as many riders dropped from the front group including race leader Juan Ayuso.

The gaps consolidated and with just over 6 to go Romain Bardet launched two attacks, further splitting the leading group. Simon Carr and Eddie Dunbar made moves as the pace slowed down afterwards. More attacks followed as Adam Yates cranked the pace up a notch, and getting a dangerous gap with 4.5 kilometers to go.

The gap did not grow much as Matteo Jorgenson kept the pace high in the chasing group, chasing the yellow jersey which was being threatened by the Briton. The fight for the stage win continued however as Thibaut Pinot then jumped out of the chasing group, but it wasn't enough to catch up to the front.

Yates took the stage win and the yellow jersey on his shoulders, holding off the acceleration of Thibaut Pinot. Damiano Caruso sprinted to third place shortly after in the group where Matteo Jorgenson was present.

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