Tour de Suisse stage 4: Viviani gets his win as Thomas crashes out

Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quicstep) finally brought to an end weeks of frustration when he beat Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and overall leader Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgroe) for victory on stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse.

Meanwhile, Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas (Ineos) crashed out of the race in a high speed spill at around 30km remaining.

“He was alert and speaking to the team after the crash and will be taken to hospital for checks,” tweeted his team. “Further updates to follow.”

Thomas went down in the crash approaching a first passage of the finish line in Arlesheim, before the race embarked on its finishing circuit. Andrey Zeits was also involved in the incident, which happened when the bunch was lined out on wide urban roads in pursuit of the day’s break. A subtle kerb between the road and a cycle path was perhaps a contributing factor.

While Astana’s Zeits was stretchered off from the incident to also abandon the race, Thomas stayed seated on the cycle lane for several minutes. Tended to by team and medical staff, he appeared to be nursing a cut to the head and grazes to his body.

The incident is another blow to his Ineos team after Chris Froome was forced to withdraw from the Tour de France following a crash last week at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

On the face of it, Thomas’ injuries don’t look nearly as severe as his co-leader’s but could still have significant affect on Ineos’ Tour plans. Even if no more than cuts and bruises, training could be restricted and his abandonment of the Tour de Suisse denies him a late, high mountain, competitive tune-up.

After Ryan Anderson’s participation on stage 3, Rally UHC placed another rider in the day’s early break –  Robin Carpenter. Alongside the 26-year-old were Simon Geschke (CCC), just 49 seconds down overall, Taco van der Hoorn (Jumbo-Visma) and, representing the home nation’s national team, Gian Friesecke (Switzerland).

With just a single 29km finishing lap of the 163.9km leg from Murten remaining, the group was in command of a minute and a half’s margin. It had come down to a minute when they hit the second classified climb of the day, the cat. 3 Eichenberg, with 19km to go, where Friesecke applied the pressure and split the group into quarters.

Behind, Bora set the pace on the the climb in defence of Sagan’s lead. Eventually, as Sunweb moved to the front, Friesecke was the last of the move to be brought back with 11km to go.

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Mathias Frank (Ag2r-La Mondiale) tried to maintain the Swiss presence out front with a series of attacks in the last 7km. Slovenian Matej Mohorič also chipped in, but none of them were granted much leeway.

After a spell by Trek-Segafredo on the front, hoping to make amends for John Degenkob’s frustration 24 hours earlier, Deceuninck-Quickstep took over in hope of doing likewise for Viviani. The Italian national champion not only missed out on stage 3, but also throughout his home tour, the Giro d’Italia, where he just couldn’t nail the win.

Yves Lampaert and Michael Mørkøv, the Belgian and Danish champions respectively, led him through the final kilometre. As the sprint opened, Viviani went down the left while Sagan had to go the long way around a decelerating Mørkøv. At one point the pair were almost shoulder to shoulder, but Sagan faded with a fast finishing Matthews nabbing him for second.

“The guys did an amazing job, noted Viviani. “I’m pretty proud of my team and am happy with this win. It’s been a long time that I’ve not won.

“It’s my first win in the Tour de Suisse, I can be happy with that,” he added. “And it’s a few weeks now to my main goal of the season.”

Peter Sagan maintained his overall lead in the race, with Matthews moving up to second and Deceuninck’s Kasper Asgreen dropping to third.