Late drama for Van Poppel
Last Updated: 16/06/16 1:41pm
Danny van Poppel's chances of winning stage four at the Tour de Suisse were ended when he nearly crashed 150 metres from the finish in Champagne.
Danny van Poppel's chances of winning stage four at the Tour de Suisse were ended when he nearly crashed 150 metres from the finish in Champagne.
The Dutchman appeared to clip wheels with Peter Sagan heading into the final bend and he was forced wide into the barriers, but somehow managed to stay upright and avoid a high-speed crash.
Van Poppel looked to be perfectly positioned for the final charge to the line but he was denied the opportunity to battle it out for the win, which was claimed by Maximiliano Richeze (Etixx - Quick-Step), with team-mate Fernando Gaviria sealing a one-two for the Belgian team. Race leader Sagan finished third to keep the yellow jersey.
Ahead of Van Poppel, who rolled over the line in 26th, team leader Geraint Thomas finished safely in 13th, although the Welshman slipped from ninth to tenth overall and is now 25 seconds back on Sagan, before the race hits the mountains on stage five.
Long day
It was a slow stage in Switzerland, with poor weather and a tough headwind keeping the pace low on the 193-kilometre run from Rheinfelden to Champagne.
A four-man break disappeared up the road and forged a solid lead, which the peloton struggled to control as the race headed to its inclusion.
With 20km to go the gap was still at two minutes, but, with the break down to three men - Matthew Brammeier (Dimension Data), Jérémy Maison (FDJ) and Nick Vander Lijke (Roompot-Oranje Peloton) - the peloton finally made the catch 4km from home.
The charge for the line was on, but the sharp turn 150m from the line always looked likely to cause problems, and so it proved.
With Van Poppel, Sagan, Richeze and Gaviria all battling for the same line, one had to miss out, and sadly for Team Sky it was Van Poppel.
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