Tour de Suisse: Stage 4

Larry Warbasse (Aqua Blue) wins his first pro race as he takes the victory on stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse; Damiano Caruso leads on GC

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Tour de Suisse: Stage 4

Larry Warbasse (Aqua Blue) wins his first pro race as he takes the victory on stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse; Damiano Caruso leads on GC. It was also the first pro win for his team Aqua Blue Sport.

Photo: https://twitter.com/tds

The day began in the historic city of Bern and traveled across a mostly flat first half of the race in the direction of the high mountain Villars-sur-Ollon. During the morning meeting for the Aqua Blue team, it was clear that the day would be targeted by Larry Warbasse as Nicki Sorensen put in place a plan to capitalise on the American’s good form.

Warbasse broke away after 15 kilometres with three other riders and they were given some rope to gather an advance that reached to more than seven minutes. As the final climb of 11.1 steep kilometres loomed in the distance Warbasse rode away from his breakaway companions. He cut a lone, determined figure as he battled against gravity and the peloton.

Within the final kilometre, the GC contenders had whittled down his lead to just under one minute but the gifted climber realised the day was his and gave one last surge to the line. He crossed the line, arms raised in triumph and collapsed into the arms of the Aqua Blue Sport soigneur.

Afterwards as Warbasse wept, he said: “It’s my first victory in my career – it’s amazing I love this race, I love Switzerland. I was on IAM Cycling the last two years, and it’s one of the most beautiful countries and I have so many great memories here. Today I felt like it was my home race.”

“I’ve never had so many people cheering for me, everyone was yelling my name. I’m really happy. As soon as I got in the breakaway, I knew – I told everyone yesterday, I worked really hard the whole last season – I always give 110 per cent, I’m just so happy it finally paid off.”

Yellow for Caruso
The other race was for the GC and in that, the contenders were soon whittled down to half a dozen or less on the slopes of the final climb. The first attack from the peloton came with less than 7km to go but BMC Racing Team reacted quickly with Tejay van Garderen closing the gap before moving to the front with Caruso tucked on his wheel.

A burst of acceleration from Caruso saw a group of six riders go clear before they began to attack one another inside 3km to go with none of them head and shoulders above the other although Špilak was very active and Mathias Frank did gap his rivals for a while as did Domenico Pozzovivo.

As the AquaBlue Sport rider Warbasse crossed the line, the racing continued behind and a tight sprint to the line, Caruso got to the line ahead of Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNL-Jumbo), and move into the overall race lead.
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Damiano Caruso: “It feels really nice to have the yellow jersey. It was so hot today and after a really hard day of racing like that, it feels incredible to wear this jersey. My BMC Racing Team teammates were really amazing. They were around me all day and protected me. Tejay van Garderen was especially strong on the last climb and other guys were able to put me in the right position at the key moments.”

“On the last climb, I tried to follow the best riders and in the end, I surprised myself because I was able to take second place and the bonus seconds. I am really happy about this and I will enjoy this jersey and see what happens over the next few days. Tomorrow is a long stage and the goal will be to keep safe and keep the jersey. After that we will see what happens.”

Simon Špilak: “Yes, I tried to chase down those guys in the front and I am happy about my performance, especially because it is really hot weather at 30 degrees. Normally I do not perform well in this weather, but sometimes it is surprising. Now I am in 4th in GC. We will see day-by-day. A lot can still happen”.

Stage 4
1. Larry Warbasse Aqua Blue Sport 3:48:55
2. Damiano Caruso BMC Racing Team 0:40
3. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo
4. Simon Špilak Team Katusha – Alpecin
5. Domenico Pozzovivo AG2R La Mondiale :44
6. Mathias Frank AG2R La Mondiale :47
7. Marc Soler Movistar Team :59
8. Miguel López Ángel Astana Pro Team 1:07
9. Mikel Nieve Team Sky 1:20
10. Rui Costa UAE Team Emirates 1:34

13. Tao Geoghegan Hart Team Sky 2:00
22. Hugh Carthy Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team 3:25
73. Daniel Pearson Aqua Blue Sport
78. Owain Doull Team Sky
97. Jack Bauer Quick-Step Floors
146. Alex Dowsett Movistar Team
169. Jonathan Dibben Team Sky 24:48

Overall
1. Damiano Caruso BMC Racing Team 12:08:35
2. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:15
3. Domenico Pozzovivo AG2R La Mondiale 0:24
4. Simon Špilak Team Katusha – Alpecin
5. Marc Soler Movistar Team 0:31
6. Mathias Frank AG2R La Mondiale 0:33
7. Mikel Nieve Team Sky 1:09
8. Rui Costa UAE Team Emirates 1:10
9. Valerio Conti UAE Team Emirates 1:20
10. Miguel López ÁngelAstana Pro Team 1:25
11. Tao Geoghegan Hart Team Sky 1:37

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