Criterium du Dauphiné stage 4: Kämna wins from breakaway, Roglič retains GC lead

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) rode away from a powerful breakaway group in the final climb of the day to take stage 4 at the Critérium du Dauphiné Saturday.

The young German was able to fend off a chase from Davide de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), who took second, while Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) won the sprint for third.

The GC group of around 20 riders came in over three minutes later, all finishing on the same time, so meaning overnight GC leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) retains his yellow jersey with one day remaining. The stage wasn’t straightforward for the Slovenian however, crashing midway through the race, picking up a swathe of road rash and bruises.

Before the stage, it was confirmed that Team Ineos leader and Tour de France champion Egan Bernal would not take to the start due to back problems.

In what was a bad day to be a GC-guy, Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) both also abandoned after 30 kilometers of racing. The pair hit the deck on the first descent of the day, with Kruijswijk later confirmed to have suffered a dislocated shoulder.

“I was a forward pawn for Buchmann, who wanted to attack on the penultimate climb. He dropped out, so I could go for my own chance,” Kämna said after the race. “Winning in the Dauphiné is a very big thing… I am very happy that I booked my first pro victory here.”

Although Buchmann’s condition is unknown, his abandon so soon before the Tour, where he was looking to better his 2019 fourth-place overall, made it a bitter-sweet day for Bora-Hansgrohe after Kämna’s impressive victory.

“I have to enjoy myself now, but I hope that Buchmann will be fit for the Tour in time,” Kämna said.

Saturday’s tough 154-kilometer stage out of Ugine packed over 4500 meters ascent, including the Hors Categorie Montée de Bisanne before the final shallow drag to the finish at the Megeve Altiport.

A big-name breakaway eventually got clear, including, Kämna, Alaphilippe, De la Cruz, Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Marc Soler (Movistar), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo), and Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-McLaren).

After Kruijswijk and Buchmann’s crash and the overnight abandonment of Bernal, the next scare for a GC rider came for Roglič. The Slovenian crashed midway through the stage, with the race-leader hitting the deck but quickly getting back on his bike, albeit with torn shorts and jersey.

Bahrain-McLaren began pushing the pace for Mikel Landa on the Bisanne climb, stripping the GC group down to around 25 riders, with all the major players staying in contact except for Chris Froome (Ineos), Geraint Thomas (Ineos) and Rigoberto Urán (EF Pro Cycling), who all lost contact early.

Up front, Alaphilippe animated the breakaway, repeatedly pushing the pace and keeping the group’s momentum up and over the steep narrow climb of the Bisanne.

Going into the final 15km drag to the Altiport finish line, the bunch of favorites was joined by a group from behind, leaving around 40 riders – including five from Jumbo-Visma – chasing the breakaway of eight, who were nearly three minutes up the road.

Ellisonde rolled the dice with 7km to go, accelerating clear from the break to take a 15-second gap. De La Cruz bridged across to the diminutive Italian, with Kämna next to make the junction.

The German didn’t even stop when he made contact, and immediately attacked over the top, distancing Ellisonde. From there, he just kept on going, riding away from De la Cruz, nursing a few seconds of a gap going into the final 3km.

ämna was relentless through the final stretch, distancing De la Cruz by a significant margin and holding on to win on the Altiport airstrip by 41 seconds.

De la Cruz took second, and behind him, a small group of chasers was led home by Alaphilippe.

The GC group rolled in together three minutes behind, all at the same time. With no new time differences, Roglič retains the yellow jersey going into Sunday’s final stage. With Buchmann – who started the day in third – now out of the race, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) moves up a slot on the GC behind second-place Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).

Roglič goes into the decisive stage 5 Sunday with a 14-second gap over Pinot, but also without key domestique Kruijswijk and what could be a lot of road rash.