Tour de Romandie: Chris Froome stays third as Stefan Küng wins

Britain's Chris Froome and Simon Yates remain third and fourth overall at the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland after home rider Stefan Küng claimed an impressive solo victory on a rain-soaked fourth stage.

Küng (BMC Racing) enhanced his status as one of the sport’s rising stars by escaping from the peloton with 24km to go and hanging on to win in Fribourg by 38 seconds.

A handful of riders set off in pursuit of the 21-year-old but ended up racing for second place, which Jan Bakelants (Ag2r-La Mondiale) claimed ahead of Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo) in third.

Froome (Team Sky) followed in the peloton 52 seconds behind Küng in 14th place, which means he remains 20 seconds adrift of race leader Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), who finished eighth.

Ivan Santaromita (Orica-GreenEdge) is on the same time as Froome in second place, as is Yates in fourth following a ninth-place finish on the day.

Froome’s two main rivals for overall victory, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar), remain 17 and 40 seconds adrift of the Briton respectively.

The six-day race continues on Saturday with a potentially decisive 166.1km fifth stage, which ends with a summit finish at Champex-Lac.

Stage four result

1 Stefan Küng (Sui) BMC Racing, 4:35:10

2 Jan Bakelants (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +38secs

3 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +39

4 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step, +45

5 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step, +52

6 Tosh van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal, same time

7 Johannes Frohlinger (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, st

8 Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica-GreenEdge, st

9 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, st

10 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica-GreenEdge, st

Selected others

14 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, st

General classification

1 Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica-GreenEdge, 13:33:40

2 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica-GreenEdge, +20secs

3 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, same time

4 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, st

5 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, +25

6 Egor Silin (Rus) Katusha, st

7 Yuri Trofimov (Rus) Katusha, st

8 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, st

9 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step, +27

10 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx – Quick-Step, +34

Selected others

12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +37

25 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +1:00