The 150 kilometres from Broc to Charmey led over the Jaun Pass three times. Pogacar used the last climb for the attack that would bring him his seventh win of the season. Lipowitz was able to keep up until one kilometre before the mountain classification. However, he was unable to make up the 20 seconds he was missing at the top over the remaining 17 kilometres. At the finish, he was 14 seconds behind the 27-year-old, who now leads the overall standings by 35 seconds over the German.

Pogacar: "It was difficult to leave Florian behind"

Behind them, however, the situation is now clear. The chasers, led by Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team), crossed the finish line 1:42 minutes behind. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious), who arrived five seconds later, is now already 2:23 minutes behind in the overall classification, while fourth-placed Jörgen Nordhagen (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) is seven seconds further back.

"It was very difficult to leave Florian behind. He made it very difficult for me on the descent, he kept the gap constant. It certainly wasn't easy, it was super exhausting. I'm happy with my performance today," said stage winner Pogacar, who is now also on the verge of overall victory ahead of the final stage.

Tour de Romandie 2026 - Results of the 4th stage

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>> Tour de Romandie 2026: Tadej Pogačar - and then?

How the 4th stage of the Tour de Romandie went

For the queen stage with around 3,500 metres of climbing over a compact 150 kilometres, all kinds of pros felt compelled to try and break into the leading group. In the end, it was eight men who made it over the Jaun Pass after just over 20 kilometres with a few seconds advantage over the field. In addition to Roland Thalmann (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) were also part of the group.

Immediately after the descent from the Jaun Pass, the race went up to 1500 metres for the second time - but this time from a different side. The breakaway's lead had grown to two and a half minutes. However, Brenner was no longer able to keep up and fell back.

The middle section of the stage between kilometres 50 and 100 was relatively flat, and the gap between the leaders and the peloton remained constant with a slight downward trend. Only on the climb to the Saanenmöser Pass did the gap shrink towards the minute mark. And the leading group also became smaller. Only Roglic, Paret-Peintre, his team-mate Louis Vervaeke and Michael Leonard (INEOS Grenadiers).

Pogacar irresistible on the mountain

Roglic went into the third and final crossing of the Jaunpass at a pace that only Paret-Peintre could match. But this was not to be of any significance for much longer. Because 20 kilometres before the finish, Pogacar launched an attack. On the 4000 metres to the top of the pass, only Lipowitz was able to keep up. Initially, another duo formed with Martinez and Nordhagen, but they were quickly brought back by the rest of the classification riders.

Pogacar rode the last 1000 metres before the mountain classification alone, Lipowitz could no longer ride with him. The 20 seconds he gained on Lipowitz there should last until the finish. The group behind arrived at the top one minute behind. On the remaining part of the course, which was all downhill except for the last few metres, little changed in the constellation. Due to disagreement in the chasing group in the finale, Castrillo and Fortunato gained a few seconds on the others, but these were hardly decisive.