Tour de Suisse 2023 - the definitive guide
Tour de Suisse: Felix Gall grabs GC lead with solo victory on stage 4
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 4 of the 2023 Tour de Suisse
Racing is due to get underway in roughly 10 minutes time.
Reports of two DNS this morning, both from Astana Qazaqstan: Vadim Pronskiy and Alexey Lutsenko, both ill. For Lutsenko, set to be a leader again for Astana in the upcoming Tour de France - where he won a mountainous stage back in 2020 - this is a setback.
Meanwhile at the head of the race...
Leaders:
GC: Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo)
Best Young Rider: Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo)
Points: Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
Mountains: Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5)
Teams: Ineos Grenadiers
Riders are currently in the neutralised section of stage 4, a distance of 1.4 kilometres, prior to the depart réel at 1240 CET.
Here's a map of what's on today's program:
And we're off. Stage 4 of the 2023 Tour de Suisse is officially underway.
Some attacks from the gun, but as yet, nothing is sticking.
Today's menu
Km 95.4: Climb: Crans-Montana (Cat.1, 14.6km, 6.7%)
Km 113.3: Sprint: Sierre
Km 118.1: Climb: Varenstrasse (Cat.3, 2.8km, 5.1%)
Km 128.5: Sprint: Turtmann
Km 129.5: Sprint: Turtmann
Km 148.8: Climb: Dorben (Cat. 1, 19km 4.5%)
Km 152.6: Finish: Leukerbad
144 kilometres to go
Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) and Maciej Bodnar (TotalEnergies ) are both former multiple national time trial champions and both chance their arm, with an equal lack of success. The bunch is still together. For now.
While we are waiting for somebody to get clear, here's our report on yesterday's stage 3 to read:
Tour de Suisse: Mattias Skjelmose wins stage 3 summit finish at Villars-sur-Ollon
And here's a photo from today's start line
A picture of the bunch early on stage 4, where it's easy to see just how swiftly they're moving, at least until the break of the day forms. The weather is dry and the terrain is flat, but the latter is set to change when they go into the hills at Crans-Montana in around 60 kilometres' time.
While Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) ended up winning yesterday's stage, another man at the centre of attention was Remco Evenepoel, who attacked but lost ground. You can read our news piece on him here:
'Nothing is lost yet, no drama' – Remco Evenepoel absorbs Tour de Suisse setback
130 kilometres to go
The bunch split in two, 30 riders went clear, another four went clear...but we're back to square one as the peloton reforms again.
Reports of a third non-starter today: one-day specialist Cedric Beullens (Lotto-Dstny).
And here's another shot of Evenepoel at today's start. No restrictions on signing autographs in this race at least...
There's 2,699 metres of vertical climbing today but it's almost all in the second half of the stage, so getting away on such flat, open terrain like this Swiss mountain valleys is no easy matter.
Jeremy Cabot (TotalEnergies) becomes the latest to try to go clear, but without success.
106 kilometres to go
After nearly 50 kilometres of break-neck racing, ten riders go clear and open up a promising gap: Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos-Grenadiers), Niklas Arndt (Bahrain Victorious); Kevin Vermaerke (DSM); Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citröen); Kristian Sbaragli (Deceuninck-Alpecin); Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty); Luis Mas (Movistar); Daryl Impey (Israel-Premier Tech); Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) and Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic).
Trek-Segafredo take control at the front, and things are reported to be calming down after that fraught first hour of racing.
That first hour was run off at a scarily fast average speed of 55.7kmh, race organisers report. And there's still all the mountains to come.
The gap for the 10 riders ahead is 90 seconds and rising. Break of the day ahoy.
80 kilometres to go
Gap is at 2:25 as we approach the foot of the first climb of the day, the Crans Montana.
If this climb sounds familiar from a recent race, it should do. On the Giro d'Italia's excursion into Switzerland, Crans Montana was the scene of Einer Rubio's defeat of Thibaut Pinot and Alexander Cepeda. Many a Pinot fans' heart was broken that day...
Giro d'Italia: Rubio beats Pinot, Cepeda to win abbreviated mountain stage 13
2:30 for the ten leaders of stage 4 at the foot of the mountain
Pinot has been in the news about another Grand Tour in the last couple of days, of course, earning a comparison to none other than Their Satanic Majesties, no less, courtesy of his boss...
'He's a bit like the Rolling Stones' - Madiot on Pinot's farewell Tour de France
On the lower slopes of the Crans-Montana, a counter attack comes from the bunch courtesy of local boy Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious) and he's rapidly closing in on the break.
Mader reaches the break. That means there are 11 riders up front halfway up the Crans-Montana:
Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious)
Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos-Grenadiers)
Niklas Arndt (Bahrain Victorious)
Kevin Vermaerke (DSM)
Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citröen)
Kristian Sbaragli (Deceuninck-Alpecin)
Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
Luis Mas (Movistar)
Daryl Impey (Israel-Premier Tech)
Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny)
Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic)
62 kilometres to go
Arndt, best known as a sprinter with Vuelta and Giro stages to his name, is doing the hard work on the front of the break for his teammate Mader. But the gap is dropping all the same and currently stands at 1:35.
Luis Mas leads the break earlier on in the stage
Mountains leader Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5) has attacked from the bunch, presumably to see if he can get some points at the top of the Crans Montana, and Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic) has been dropped from the break
The race is nearly at the top of the Crans-Montana and the gap has held fairly steady for now for the breakaway: it was 2:30 at the foot of the climb and it's now 2:15.
Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) takes top points at the summit of the cat 1 Crans Montana.
Still to come
Km 113.3: Sprint: Sierre
Km 118.1: Climb: Varenstrasse (Cat.3, 2.8km, 5.1%)
Km 128.5: Sprint: Turtmann
Km 129.5: Sprint: Turtmann
Km 148.8: Climb: Dorben (Cat. 1, 19km 4.5%)
Km 152.6: Finish: Leukerbad
The break has a 2:20 gap on the bunch over the top of Crans Montana
Lilian Calmejane (TotalEnergies) picked up second place on that climb so is now ahead in the provisional mountains ranking of leader Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5): However, with a cat.3 and a cat. 1 climb yet to come, there could be more changes in the rest of today's stage.
40 kilometres to go
Race situation:
Break:
Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious)
Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos-Grenadiers)
Niklas Arndt (Bahrain Victorious)
Kevin Vermaerke (DSM)
Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citröen)
Kristian Sbaragli (Deceuninck-Alpecin)
Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
Luis Mas (Movistar)
Daryl Impey (Israel-Premier Tech)
Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny)
At 1:00
Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5)
At 1:45
Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic)
Fabio Felline (Astana Qazaqstan)
Jérémy Cabot (TotalEnergies)
At 2:25
Bunch
Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citröen) picks up maximum points in the first of the three intermediate sprints, at Sierre, ahead of Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) and Kristian Sbaragli (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
The break begins to tackle the next climb of the day, the Varenstrasse (Cat.3, 2.8km, 5.1%).
Luis Mas (Movistar) is dropped from the break, reducing their number to nine while Luca Mozzato (Arkea-Samsic) is dropped from the chasing group.
The peloton have caught Mozzato and are closing in on the chasing group of Fabio Felline (Astana Qazaqstan) and Jérémy Cabot (TotalEnergies).
Having led over the cat 1 climb of Crans Montana, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) has now also taken top points in the cat. 3 climb of the Varrenstrasse
30 kilometres to go
All the riders between break and bunch have now been swept up and we've left with nine riders out front:
Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious)
Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos-Grenadiers)
Niklas Arndt (Bahrain Victorious)
Kevin Vermaerke (DSM)
Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citröen)
Kristian Sbaragli (Deceuninck-Alpecin)
Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
Daryl Impey (Israel-Premier Tech)
Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny)
After a brief dig by Kristian Sbaragli (Deceuninck-Alpecin), the nine leaders remain together on one of the few remaining flat stretches of road in today's stage. Just over two minutes the gap.
Onto the final first category climb of the day, the Dorben (Cat. 1, 19km, 4.5%)
The Bahrain duo of Niklas Arndt and Gino Mader are driving hard at the front of the break and Eenkhoorn and Dewulf are the first to be dropped
The break shrinks even more after Arndt completes his work and now there are just three riders ahead: Narvaez, Mader, Calmenjane, Vermaerke and Impey.
21 kilometres to go
Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) attacks. But the gap on the peloton is now down to 1:16...
Felix Gall, ninth overall, has attacked along with AG2R-Citroen teammate Mikael Cherel.
Gall then goes solo and is working his way through the following cars from the break.
Ayuso, third overall before the stage is reportedly struggling.
Gall continues to make inroads on the stage leaders, Narvaez, and Vermaeke, who have caught up with Calmejane.
19 kilometres to go
Gall sweeps past the trio of breakaways and takes off with Narvaez the only rider able to hold his wheel. The bunch are at 30 seconds and splitting apart.
Gall and Narvaez, the only rider from the early breakaway still out front, open up their gap on the remains of the bunch to 45 seconds.
This is a very strange climb, some very steep pitches, but also a couple of descents
Gall now drops Narvaez, while behind Romain Bardet (DSM) springs into action
Bardet reaches his teammate Vermaerke who gives him a turn as the duo go in search of stage leader Gall.
Skjelmose is still in the bunch, if you can call 10 riders a bunch, with Evenepoel.
Evenepoel in difficulties
Evenepoel's group regains contact with Bardet, who in turn has been caught by the yellow jersey group, but it's already breaking apart again.
Now it's Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) who's piling on the pressure in the yellow jersey group, while Gall continues to lead by a minute.
Another surge from Bilbao and Evenepoel is dropped again.
Just seven riders in the Bilbao chase group, including race leader Skjelmose, but no Evenepoel.
The Bilbao group also includes
Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma)
Mattias Skjelmose (Trek_Segafredo)
Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Dstny)
Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Romain Bardet (DSM)
Ion Izagirre (Cofidis)
Evenepoel is chasing hard behind on a segment of downhill mid-way up the climb.
11 kilometres to go.
Evenepoel regains contact. Gall still has a minute's lead.
Gall continues to lead as he heads into another uphill segment
Nine kilometres to go
Gall still leads by a minute, as Oier Lazkano (Movistar) attacks from the chase group.
No reaction to Lazkano's attack from the group of favourites
The climbs today are almost all classic Swiss affairs, by the way, smooth, broad and well-surfaced.
Another attack by Bilbao from the main group of 10 chasers brings them back up to Lazkano
Lazkano is pedalling squares and is quickly dropped.
Another searing attack by Romain Bardet sees him easily go clear of the main group. Kelderman follows, at distance.
Evenepoel tries to breath some life into the little chase group behind Bardet but the Frenchman is upping his own pace and powering onwards solo in search of Gall.
A brief spell of watching and waiting in the main group is followed by an attempt by Kelderman to go clear, which Evenepoel promptly squashes.
Six kilometres to go
Situation:
Leader: Gall
Chaser: Bardet at 1:02
Yellow jersey group with Evenepoel: 1:17
Yet another change in this epic struggle on the cat. 1 Dorben as Kelderman finally goes clear behind Gall and Bardet. Bilbao tries to chase behind in the group, but nobody wants to help.
Five kilometres to go and Felix Gall looks to be comfortably en route to his first ever pro win at 25. Big question is - will he get the lead too? At the moment, with a stage gap of 1:31 on Skjelmose and 1:07 gap between them on GC, the answer is yes.
Now Bardet has been reached by Kelderman. They've only got 12 seconds on the favourites group though.
Bilbao is bridging across to Kelderman and Bardet, with Evenepoel, who's clearly found a second wind, still trying to keep the yellow-jersey group in touch with the three counterattackers.
Gall crosses the summit of the Dorben with 1:10 on the chasers. A short descent and an even shorter climb to come, and the stage win should be his.
Kelderman leads Bardet and Bilbao across the summit just as Evenepeol-Skjelmose group regains contact, and Bardet promptly attacks.
Gall is going all out on the fast, well-surfaced descent. He's only got 1:18 on the chase group now
One kilometre to go
Gall is certain to take the stage now
The chase group is shattering again on the very fast descent off the Dorben
but it's quickly reformed again, with Bardet brought back from his late attack
What did I say? Bardet just went again for the umpteenth time today. Skjelmose drives the group of chasers.
Felix Gall comes into the finish
Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroen) wins stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse
Evenepoel leads out the sprint for second, Skjelmose follows
Evenepoel second, Skjelmose third at about 1:03. With bonus seconds on offer, not clear if he's still in the lead or not. It's going to be tight...
Gall has taken the lead by two seconds on Skjelmose
Here's the top ten of the stage win courtesy of FirstCycling
And there's the overall ranking again thanks to FirstCycling
As the dust settles, Evenepoel remains the best well-placed pre-race favourite, but his uneven performance on the climb raises a lot of questions about whether he can hold on and play it all on the final TT if Gall goes on the attack on the mountains again. And Skjelmose also rode impressively to hold onto second place overall. Lots of other top names, like Pello Bilbao, Wilco Kelderman and Romain Bardet clearly haven't said his last word. With four stages still to come, we're likely in for a fascinating second half of the Tour de Suisse.
Meanwhile here's a photo of the man of the day crossing the finish line for his first ever pro win and the overall lead into the bargain.
And here's some first words from Gall, second on stage 3's summit finish and one better on stage 4: "I don't really know what to think, I really can't believe it, my first professional victory here at the Tour de Suisse, also now the leader's jersey. Yesterday I felt super-good, I'm in the shape of my life, I said this morning if I feel the same on the last climb, I have to give it a try."
"It's a nice result, I didn't think it would possible because it was a long way to the finish but I have to give it a try if I have these legs. I'm not going to win if I stick in the bunch and look at the others."
Looking ahead, he said, "I hope I can enjoy all of this as much as possible, the mountain stage tomorrow is a little bit different, the climbs are longer and also at altitude. We will see how that suits me."
"It's a little bit of a new experience for me, it's the first time I can race at this level. Then also the TT is not exactly my strength at the moment, if I want to get a nice result on GC I also have to do a good race tomorrow, and try to gain some time. But now I'm happy with today."
Tour de Suisse: Felix Gall grabs GC lead with solo victory on stage 4
And here's a photo of the new race leader
A picture of the former leader, Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo), crossing the stage 4 line in third. Just two seconds down on new race leader Felix Gall (AG2R-Citröen), he's still very much in the fight.
Finally a picture of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) shortly after completing the stage and exchanging fistbumps with his 20-year-old compatriot, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe), who rode to an excellent fourth place today.
As for the secondary classifications, following stage 4, Gall, 25, is also in the Best Young Rider's lead, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) remains in control of the points jersey, Lilian Calmejane (TotalEnergies) now heads the mountains classification and Ineos Grenadiers are in first place in the teams ranking.
If today's stage seemed tough, then hold onto your hats for tomorrow, which is even harder - in fact, it's the most difficult day in the mountains of the entire 2023 race, with 4,711 metres of vertical climbing, much of it at altitude.
Running for 212 kilometres, and with two HC climbs sandwiching a first cat prior to a fast descent to the finish, it could provide some major upsets on the GC.
That's it for live coverage today from the Tour de Suisse. Keep an eye on Cyclingnews for more reaction and news from the race throughout the evening and then we'll be back with more live reporting on Friday's monster mountain stage.
