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Tour de Romandie Stage 4 Report, Full Results – Albasini Takes 20th Pro Victory

report by Orica-GreenEdge
May 03, 2014 (Fribourg, Switzerland) – Michael Albasini took his third stage victory at the 2014 Tour de Romandie in a three-up sprint, beating Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) to the line. The trio were part of an early five rider breakaway that formed shortly after the first ten kilometres on stage four. The win is the fifth this week for ORICA-GreenEDGE and the 20th professional victory for Albasini. Nine of those wins come during Albasini’s tenure with the Australian outfit.

“I was not counting,” said Albasini, who seemed surprised to learn that he had reached a career milestone. “It’s a nice number, but I’m always watching for the next one. The 19th or the 20th or the 21st – it doesn’t matter. I’m just happy to win.”

Jean-Marc Marino (Cannondale) and Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r La Mondiale) joined Albasini, Bakelants and Voeckler up the road on the opening lap of the 30 kilometre course. The penultimate day of racing included six times round the circuit that began and ended in Fribourg. The lumpy loop included one category three ascent.

“It was actually Albasini who put it out there that it would be great to have a guy in the break today,” said Sport Director Neil Stephens. “ ‘I’m really eager to go into the break,’ he said. We were all going to work together to put Albasini, Nino [Schurter], Christian [Meier] or Cameron [Meyer] into the move.”

“It was a really fast and really aggressive start,” Stephens added. “It wasn’t like a chess game where there was one move and then a response. It was one attack and then another attack and then another attack – consistent attacking for awhile. The ones that were the first to get a gap were the five that we saw go away.”

Fifty kilometres into the stage, the escape group had stretched out their advantage a bit beyond the six minute mark. The gap would hover there for the next hour. Steadily but very slowly the gap began to fall in the second half of the stage.

“Everybody was working really well together,” said Albasini. “We worked out how we were going to ride and everybody committed to the breakaway. We had to keep it going because we knew it could be quite close at the end.”

“That was a group of good bike riders,” Stephens added. “I was confident they were gauging their efforts. We knew there would pick up the chase at the end, and they saved some of their energy for a final push to the line.”
At the start of the sixth and final lap, Team Sky controlled the pace at the front of the bunch. The gap had fallen to 3’28. In an attempt to shut down the move, Lampre-Merida, Tinkoff-Saxo and Trek Factory Racing all sent riders to the front before the final ascent of the categorised climb. As the chase heated up so too did the pace in the breakaway

“Bakelants made an acceleration on the last climb that separated us from the other two guys,” explained Albasini. “It was actually a bit unnecessary how hard he rode up there. It put everybody in the red. It was a little risky.”

The peloton overtook Marino (Cannondale) and Vuillermoz, but they were unable to bridge the distance to the remaining three leaders. A crash mid-pack briefly disrupted the chase, benefiting the breakaway. Albasini led the trio under the flamme rouge with a 24” advantage over the bunch.

“In the last few kilometres, I was doing the work,” said Albasini. “I knew I would have to ride from the front because there was no room for playing games and watching each other. They were never going to let me on their wheel, so I would have to lead out the sprint from the head of the group. I closed out one side, and I was controlling attacks.”

Two hundred metres from the finish, Albasini opened his sprint. Although both Bakelants and Voeckler jumped to respond, they were unable to match Albasini’s powerful acceleration. He pumped his fist in the air as he crossed the finish, proudly delivering another Swiss victory at home.

“I knew that I could do the sprint from 200 metres,” said Albasini. When I started, the other guys had to make up my bike length, so I had an advantage that way. I’m also not that slow in the sprint. I knew it would work out well for me.”

Results

1. Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica GreenEdge  4:14:21
2. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar
3. Jan Bakelants (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
4. Davide Appollonio (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale  0:09
5. Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ.fr
6. Oscar Gatto (Ita) Cannondale
7. Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin Sharp
8. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant-Shimano
9. Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida
10. Tony Hurel (Fra) Team Europcar
11. Silvan Dillier (Sui) BMC Racing Team
12. Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Belisol
13. Jesus Herrada Lopez (Esp) Movistar Team
14. Paul Martens (Ger) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
15. Sébastien Reichenbach (Sui) IAM Cycling
16. Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky
17. Egor Silin (Rus) Team Katusha
18. Nino Schurter (Sui) Orica GreenEdge
19. Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
20. Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team
21. Mickaël Chérel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
22. Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Shimano
23. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
24. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
25. Oliver Zaugg (Sui) Tinkoff-Saxo
26. Andre Fernando S Martins Cardoso (Por) Garmin Sharp
27. Reto Hollenstein (Sui) IAM Cycling
28. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
29. Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo
30. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr
31. Dominik Nerz (Ger) BMC Racing Team
32. Björn Thurau (Ger) Team Europcar
33. Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ.fr
34. Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha
35. Stef Clement (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
36. Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
37. Dmitry Kozontchouk (Rus) Team Katusha
38. Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Belisol
39. Marcel Wyss (Sui) IAM Cycling
40. Mathias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling
41. Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin Sharp
42. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
43. Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team
44. Caleb Fairly (USA) Garmin Sharp
45. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team
46. Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida
47. Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) Trek Factory Racing
48. Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Esp) Movistar Team
49. Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Esp) Team Sky
50. Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha
51. Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale
52. Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ.fr
53. Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Esp) Garmin Sharp
54. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
55. Eduard Beltran Suarez (Col) Tinkoff-Saxo
56. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale
57. Jonathan Fumeaux (Sui) IAM Cycling
58. David Lopez Garcia (Esp) Team Sky
59. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
60. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin Sharp
61. Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Movistar Team
62. Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
63. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
64. Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Belisol
65. Ivan Basso (Ita) Cannondale
66. Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Shimano
67. Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar
68. Johann Tschopp (Sui) IAM Cycling
69. Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr
70. Thierry Hupond (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano
71. Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
72. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale  0:40
73. Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
74. Jean-Marc Marino (Fra) Cannondale  1:20
75. Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team  2:42
76. Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo  2:43
77. Danilo Wyss (Sui) BMC Racing Team  3:26
78. Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre-Merida  3:50
79. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
80. Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
81. Rafael Valls Ferri (Esp) Lampre-Merida
82. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Trek Factory Racing  4:04
83. Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing
84. Cédric Pineau (Fra) FDJ.fr
85. Kenny Elissonde (Fra) FDJ.fr
86. Lawrence Warbasse (USA) BMC Racing Team
87. Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
88. Peter Velits (Svk) BMC Racing Team
89. Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC Racing Team
90. Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha
91. Pirmin Lang (Sui) IAM Cycling
92. Alexey Tsatevich (Rus) Team Katusha
93. Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo
94. Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin Sharp
95. Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Cannondale
96. Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky
97. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Cannondale
98. Christian Meier (Can) Orica GreenEdge
99. Martijn Keizer (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
100. Jesse Sergent (Nzl) Trek Factory Racing
101. Elia Favilli (Ita) Lampre-Merida
102. Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
103. Dennis Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol  8:04
104. Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida
105. Gang Xu (Chn) Lampre-Merida
106. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida
107. Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
108. Pavel Brutt (Rus) Team Katusha
109. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
110. Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
111. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
112. Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
113. Calvin Watson (Aus) Trek Factory Racing
114. Jack Bobridge (Aus) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
115. Svein Tuft (Can) Orica GreenEdge
116. Romain Guillemois (Fra) Team Europcar
117. Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Belisol
118. Xabier Zandio Echaide (Esp) Team Sky
119. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team  9:24
120. Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Esp) Movistar Team
121. Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano
122. Mikhail Ignatyev (Rus) Team Katusha
123. Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier (Fra) FDJ.fr
124. Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Lotto Belisol
125. Jens Voigt (Ger) Trek Factory Racing
126. Damien Gaudin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
127. Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano  0:16:02
128. Tom Veelers (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano
129. Nathan Earle (Aus) Team Sky  0:23:47
130. Christopher Sutton (Aus) Team Sky
DNF  Kenny De Haes (Bel) Lotto Belisol
DNF  Maxime Méderel (Fra) Team Europcar
DNF  Christophe Kern (Fra) Team Europcar
DNF  Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
DNF  Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar
DNF  Lachlan Morton (Aus) Garmin Sharp
DNF  Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky
DNF  Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
DNF  Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano
DNS  Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
DNS  Moreno Hofland (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team

GC after Stage 4

1. Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha  15:53:55
2. Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky  0:01
3. Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida  1:02
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team  1:06
5. Mathias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling  1:10
6. Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Esp) Movistar Team  1:13
7. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team  1:14
8. Jesus Herrada Lopez (Esp) Movistar Team  1:40
9. Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team  1:48
10. Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin Sharp  1:50
11. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr  1:57
12. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo  2:18
13. Marcel Wyss (Sui) IAM Cycling  2:46
14. Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) Trek Factory Racing  3:01
15. Sébastien Reichenbach (Sui) IAM Cycling  3:05
16. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team  3:36
17. Andre Fernando S Martins Cardoso (Por) Garmin Sharp  4:09
18. Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team  4:16
19. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar  5:52
20. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo  6:00
21. Jan Bakelants (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
22. Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team  7:49
23. Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha  7:50
24. Egor Silin (Rus) Team Katusha  7:56
25. Johann Tschopp (Sui) IAM Cycling  8:10
26. Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Belisol  0:16
27. Eduard Beltran Suarez (Col) Tinkoff-Saxo  0:19
28. Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Belisol  0:11:35
29. Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale  0:11:47
30. Mickaël Chérel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale  0:12:09
31. Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Shimano  0:12:10
32. Stef Clement (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team  0:12:13
33. Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr  0:12:15
34. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team  0:12:39
35. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale  0:12:51
36. Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale  0:13:05
37. Dominik Nerz (Ger) BMC Racing Team  0:13:13
38. Rafael Valls Ferri (Esp) Lampre-Merida  0:13:15
39. Ivan Basso (Ita) Cannondale  0:15:20
40. Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha  0:15:29
41. Nino Schurter (Sui) Orica GreenEdge  0:15:41
42. David Lopez Garcia (Esp) Team Sky  0:16:34
43. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica GreenEdge  0:16:37
44. Björn Thurau (Ger) Team Europcar  0:16:54
45. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team  0:17:16
46. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin Sharp  0:17:27
47. Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Esp) Movistar Team  0:20:41
48. Silvan Dillier (Sui) BMC Racing Team
49. Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre-Merida  0:21:25
50. Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin Sharp  0:22:50
51. Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale  0:23:11
52. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team  0:23:17
53. Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ.fr  0:23:21
54. Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
55. Jonathan Fumeaux (Sui) IAM Cycling  0:23:23
56. Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Esp) Team Sky  0:23:36
57. Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ.fr  0:24:20
58. Caleb Fairly (USA) Garmin Sharp  0:24:25
59. Kenny Elissonde (Fra) FDJ.fr  0:27:24
60. Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Esp) Garmin Sharp  0:27:49
61. Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin Sharp  0:28:07
62. Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar  0:28:16
63. Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo  0:28:34
64. Dmitry Kozontchouk (Rus) Team Katusha  0:29:50
65. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Cannondale  0:29:52
66. Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Shimano  0:30:59
67. Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team  0:31:03
68. Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
69. Peter Velits (Svk) BMC Racing Team  0:31:39
70. Paul Martens (Ger) Belkin Pro Cycling Team  0:31:57
71. Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Movistar Team  0:32:14
72. Oliver Zaugg (Sui) Tinkoff-Saxo  0:32:24
73. Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo  0:33:31
74. Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ.fr  0:33:52
75. Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team  0:34:12
76. Danilo Wyss (Sui) BMC Racing Team  0:34:21
77. Martijn Keizer (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team  0:34:46
78. Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo  0:37:08
79. Pavel Brutt (Rus) Team Katusha  0:38:55
80. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida  0:39:30
81. Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica GreenEdge  0:39:32
82. Jack Bobridge (Aus) Belkin Pro Cycling Team  0:40:13
83. Elia Favilli (Ita) Lampre-Merida  0:40:42
84. Xabier Zandio Echaide (Esp) Team Sky  0:42:07
85. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale  0:42:42
86. Reto Hollenstein (Sui) IAM Cycling  0:43:20
87. Tony Hurel (Fra) Team Europcar  0:43:23
88. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant-Shimano  0:43:31
89. Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Belisol  0:43:32
90. Alexey Tsatevich (Rus) Team Katusha  0:43:51
91. Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team  0:44:51
92. Jean-Marc Marino (Fra) Cannondale  0:45:17
93. Oscar Gatto (Ita) Cannondale  0:45:30
94. Thierry Hupond (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano  0:47:00
95. Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida  0:47:07
96. Romain Guillemois (Fra) Team Europcar  0:47:08
97. Jesse Sergent (Nzl) Trek Factory Racing  0:47:30
98. Christian Meier (Can) Orica GreenEdge  0:47:42
99. Davide Appollonio (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale  0:49:22
100. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing  0:51:01
101. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team  0:51:37
102. Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano  0:52:41
103. Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Belisol  0:52:47
104. Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida  0:52:53
105. Cédric Pineau (Fra) FDJ.fr  0:53:46
106. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Trek Factory Racing  0:54:52
107. Dennis Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol  0:55:14
108. Pirmin Lang (Sui) IAM Cycling  0:55:28
109. Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC Racing Team  0:55:33
110. Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale  0:56:09
111. Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Cannondale  0:57:32
112. Lawrence Warbasse (USA) BMC Racing Team  0:57:56
113. Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica GreenEdge  1:00:11
114. Jens Voigt (Ger) Trek Factory Racing  1:01:59
115. Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing  1:02:05
116. Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky  1:05:23
117. Svein Tuft (Can) Orica GreenEdge  1:06:47
118. Calvin Watson (Aus) Trek Factory Racing  1:07:02
119. Gang Xu (Chn) Lampre-Merida  1:07:09
120. Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek Factory Racing  1:09:30
121. Damien Gaudin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale  1:10:29
122. Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Lotto Belisol  1:14:00
123. Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica GreenEdge  1:15:01
124. Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano  1:15:02
125. Mikhail Ignatyev (Rus) Team Katusha  1:16:49
126. Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier (Fra) FDJ.fr
127. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team  1:17:06
128. Tom Veelers (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano  1:20:52
129. Nathan Earle (Aus) Team Sky  1:25:09
130. Christopher Sutton (Aus) Team Sky  1:25:30





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