Fisher-Black gambles but endures another near miss at Dauphiné

Finn Fisher-Black’s sequence of near misses continues after he placed a close second to Quinn Simmons on stage 4 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné. 

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider was part of a determined ten-man move that held off the peloton by four seconds after a high-octane chase into Montrond-les-Bains, but he was narrowly edged out by Simmons in the sprint.

Fisher-Black has been a consistent performer across the season, but his lone victory came in the time trial at the New Zealand national championships in February. He placed second to Matthew Brennan on the final stage of the Tour Down Under in January, while his finishing speed also carried him to a pair of near misses at the Tour de Romandie, where he took second place behind Dorian Godon in Orbe and third place behind Tadej Pogacar in Vucherens.

“I’m trying not to think about how many times I’ve been second this year, it hurts a bit,” Fisher-Black told CyclingPro.net after the finish. “One day, maybe.”

With rugged terrain in the opening 100km before a flat and fast run-in, stage 4 of the Dauphiné was pitched as a battle between the break and the bunch, and that’s precisely how it played out. 

Fisher-Black confessed that he was in two minds beforehand about whether to try to go in the break or hold back for a possible reduced bunch sprint. He eventually elected to bridge up to the move, which never had more than two minutes on the peloton.

The quality of riders like Fisher-Black, Simmons and George Bennett (NSN) helped to ensure the move would go the distance, with the escapees just about fending off the bunch, which was led home by Wout van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike).

“We were jumping for two hours so it was really hard to get in the breakaway in the first place,” Fisher-Black said. “I was even keen for a bunch sprint today, but I knew my chances were better from a break so that was the idea. It was just a hard day, we were going full the whole day, we knew we couldn’t mess about, there just wasn’t enough time. 

“That was actually good for me, because I wanted to sprint. But when it came to the sprint, it was pretty hard to make my way through the gaps and I just couldn’t come around Quinn in the end.”