Pogacar seals Tour de Romandie in style with summit finish win

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) powered to victory on the final stage of the Tour de Romandie, sealing the GC in the process in his debut at the race. 

The World Champion looked in full control on the summit finish to Leysin, reacting to the moves made by Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), his closest challenger in the GC. The duo were briefly rejoined inside the final kilometre by Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), but when the final sprint was launched, there was no matching the speed of the World Champion.

In the end, Pogačar had enough time to plan the celebration for his fourth stage win in Romandie, finishing 0:03 ahead of Lipowitz in 2nd and 0:07 over Roglič.

Pogačar's final winning margin in the GC was 0:42 ahead of Lipowitz, while Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) finished on the podium for the second consecutive edition, in 3rd at 2:44.

His current tally of nine victories is the most that Pogačar has had at this stage of the season since 2023, and bodes well ahead of his quest to win a record-equalling fifth Tour de France this summer.

The day's break had taken some shape across the rolling roads. After a flurry of early attacks, an eight-man move eventually settled, composed of Finn Fisher-Black, Jan Tratnik (both Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek), Marco Schrettl (XDS Astana), Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ United), Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco AlUla), Gil Gelders (Soudal Quick-Step) and Robbe Dhondt (Picnic PostNL). 

The group that had eventually formed earlier looked to have splintered into a group of two and a chase of five before the move re-established itself. Tratnik, the Slovenian who had famously soft-pedalled the prologue while dealing with sharp lower-back pain a week earlier, was the most active of the early break.

The composition of the break with Fisher-Black and Tratnik gave Red Bull two riders up the road, with Lipowitz sitting second on GC behind Pogačar and the Slovenian's primary threat for yellow, 35 seconds down. Whether the German team chose to use their numerical advantage to spring Lipowitz on the final climb, or whether they were content to let the move ride for a stage win, which proved to be unlikely with just over a minute of an advantage inside the final 20 kilometres and a summit finish in Leysin.

On the slopes of the ascent to Leysin, Bahrain Victorious worked hard to neutralise the breakaway ahead with the gap slashed to just 17 seconds with 13 kilometres to go.

With the catch of the day's break about to be made, UAE came to the fore to drive the pace with around 30 riders left within the peloton with 2 kilometres of the climb completed. Fisher-Black pushed on solo ahead with a solid tempo and built an advantage of 35 seconds.

6.6 kilometres from the line, Fisher-Black was caught, and around 25 riders were in the peloton with the steeper slopes approaching, and it was once more Bahrain Victorious working on the front.

One by one, riders dropped out of the back of the group, and then, with 3 kilometres to go, Lipowitz attempted a move but was immediately latched on to by Pogacar, with the duo heading clear.

Pogacar and Lipowitz were clear of a chasing group 2, 10 seconds behind, containing Jørgen Nordhagen, Lenny Martinez, and Jefferson Cepeda, but the gap dwindled to a handful of seconds under the Flamme Rouge. Lipowitz was the first to make a move for glory but Pogacar simply soared by the young German to wrap up the GC in style with a stage win.