2023 Tour de Romandie Stage 4 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 4 of the 2023 Tour de Romandie! Our live profile and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
The Queen Stage of the Tour de Romandië is a 161.6 kilometres contest with a mountain finish in Thyon 2000. The elevation gain adds up to 4,157 metres, while the finish climb is 20.7 kilometres long and averages 7.7%.
The route is a carbon copy of the Queen Stage two editions ago, played out in atrocious conditions. It was raining cats and dogs from start to finish and it came down to a two-up sprint. Or, so it seemed. But then Geraint Thomas lost grip of his handlebar, hit the deck, and Michael Woods rowed on in his pedalo to the stage win.
Sion is located at the foot of the finish climb, but the race is not handed to the riders on a silver platter. A detour takes in four climbs, the first of which appears shortly after the start. This one is merely there to stretch the legs – or to initiate the breakaway – and the first proper climb begins after 34 kilometres. The ascent to Anzère is 15 kilometres long and goes up at 7%.
The riders plunge down a 10 kilometres descent, only to go up again to Lens, which is a 3.5 kilometres climb at 6.8%. After returning to the valley and approximately 40 kilometres on the flat the climb to Suen is 15 kilometres long, while the average gradient sits at 6.2%. The ensuing downhill is cut in two by a flat section halfway.
Then it’s time for the Grande Finale. In winter, Thyon 2000 is the eastern gateway to skiing area the 4 Vallées, but today it serves as the finish to the Queen Stage of the Tour de Romandie. The 20.7 kilometres climb averages 7.7%. It’s a long but steady ascent with the steepest sections – at almost 10% – inside the last 2 kilometres.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds.
The 4th stage of the Tour de Romandie starts at 10:40 and the race is expected to finish around 15:55 – both are local times (CEST).
Get our full coverage of the Tour de Romandie and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
