Tour de Romandie: new boss victory for Dorian Godon, stronger than Pogacar in the sprint

The 4th and penultimate stage, Saturday, with three ascents of the Col du Jaun on the program should offer terrain more conducive to major maneuvers before the finish on Sunday, marked by a final climb towards Leysin.

1/ Dorian Godon

2/ Finn Fisher-Black

3/ Valentin Paret-Painter

4/ Tadej Pogacar

5/ Sergio Higuita

Boss victory in the sprint for the French champion! It was he who won at the end of the 3rd stage of the Tour de Romandie. His second success of the week after the prologue.

Tadej Pogacar, 4th in the stage, remains leader overall before the last two stages.

The yellow jersey is now placed just behind Godon.

Mais répond aussitôt derrière.

But Pogacar seems well on his way to competing in the sprint.

The French champion wedges himself into Pogacar’s wheel. The escape was swallowed.

There aren’t many people left in the peloton! While the leading trio is only 6 seconds ahead…

The leading trio is losing time… This is the moment chosen by Caruso to (finally) lend a helping hand.

Steinhauser and Cras ask Caruso to collaborate, but the Italian remains quietly stuck in third position…

The gap peaks between the breakaway and the peloton, which loses elements.

The Belgian from Soudal Quick Step spares no effort, but the peloton continues to get closer. We are well on our way to witnessing a new sprint.

The peloton sees the leading trio in the long straights.

True to his logic, the Italian veteran did not pass any relays and let the Steinhauser-Cras duo do all the work on the descent. The peloton stagnates at 22 seconds.

It is Dorian Godon’s Ineos who are leading the chase in the peloton.

And here is the return of the French champion! Excellent news with a view to a possible sprint.

Huge descent from Steinhauser and Cras! Both came back at Caruso. The peloton is 25 seconds behind.

The French champion is fully on the descent, and can hope to return to the peloton.

The Italian from Bahrain-Victorious should move to the top with a minute ahead of the peloton. He completely outdistanced Georg Steinhauser and Steff Cras.

The French champion has lost contact with the peloton, but he hangs on so as not to lose too much time in order to return later in the descent. Ineos left Bob Jungels with him to help him.

The yellow jersey no longer has any teammate around him, but he is well placed in the wheels of the Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe.

The Italian veteran (38 years old), who will retire at the end of the season, pushes hard in the Col du Mollendruz. Cras and Steinhauser are a little further away. The peloton is a full minute behind.

Huge relay at the head of the peloton signed Daniel Felipe Martinez. Tadej Pogacar has almost no teammate at his side…

Lorenzo Germani and Josh Kench let go in turn… And Damiano Caruso took the opportunity to attack.

Having fallen earlier, Rémy Rochas has just lost contact with the breakaway. He rode a lot, we are clearly playing the Josh Kench card at Groupama-FDJ.

It’s the three Groupama-FDJs who do most of the work in the breakaway. Georg Steinhauser no longer collaborates at all.

We feel that everyone is trying to get back on track before attacking the foot of the Col du Mollendruz (9km at 6.1%). Jefferson Cepeda’s Movistar (10th overall) are supporting the UAE at the head of the pack.

Of the seven riders at the front, Georg Steinhauser was the best classified this morning overall, in 18th place. But with two minutes and 20 seconds behind Tadej Pogacar, the German from EF training does not represent an immediate danger for the yellow jersey.

We’re not panicking at the head of the peloton, it’s still the UAE who dictate the pace, led by the Portuguese Ivo Oliveira. Tadej Pogacar is well positioned in the first positions. Warm.

And there you have it, Rémy Rochas was able to come back to Damiano Caruso, Josh Kench, Georg Steinhauser, Lorenzo Germani, Sam Oomen and Steff Cras. But the breakaway lost time in the process and only has a 2 minute lead.

No big problems for the Frenchman, who shouldn’t have too much trouble getting back on the breakaway.

Except for the mistake in a turn! Steinhauser, Oomen and Rochas notably fell, and it was the Frenchman who took the longest to restart…

At the age of 29, Savoyard Rémy Rochas is enjoying his third season with Groupama-FDJ. Accustomed to a teammate role, he never raised his arms among the pros, but distinguished himself in the Giro 2025 with two top 5s. This morning, he was in 31st place in the Tour de Romandie, more than 6 minutes behind Tadej Pogacar.

The breakaway’s lead stagnated around the two-minute mark. As a reminder, there are seven men at the front: Damiano Caruso, Josh Kench, Georg Steinhauser, Lorenzo Germani, Sam Oomen, Steff Cras and the Frenchman Rémy Rochas.

2’20” ahead for the seven leaders.

The breakaway is now 2’15” ahead of the peloton. There are still around twenty kilometers of flat ground before the playing field rises a little.

The first two groups merged, joined by three other boys, which gave a breakaway of seven riders with a lead of 1’40” over the peloton.

The composition of l’échappée:

• Damiano Caruso (ITA, Bahrain Victorious)
• Josh Kench (NZ, Groupama-FDJ United)
• Georg Steinhauser (ALL, ED Education – EasyPost)
• Lorenzo Germani (ITA, Groupama-FDJ United)
• Sam Oomen (NED, Lidl-Trek)
• Rémy Rochas (FRA, Groupama-FDJ United)
• Steff Cras (BEL, Soudal Quick-Step)

The Tour de Romandie finally indicates a non-starter: the Frenchman Warren Bargui of Team Picnic-PostNL. He was 43rd overall, 11’42” behind Pogacar.

The escapees from earlier have all been recaptured, we are witnessing a new attempt by two, with Damiano Caruso and Josh Kench. But it’s rolling hard behind…

We feel that the route of the day is conducive to a potential victory for the breakaway given the battle to be in the game. Around ten men took off, with the French Rémi Cavagana and Henri-François Renard-Haquin among them, but nothing is set in stone yet.

Three riders quickly attack.

No non-starters announced, everyone seems to be present in the peloton.

Third overall, the French climber will wear the best young person’s jersey this Friday.

You will need a good breakaway lead when attacking the Col du Mollendruz (9 km at 6.1%) to hope to go to the end. Because Tadej Pogacar could be tempted to attack there to achieve a third victory this week.

Tadej Pogacar, already in yellow on the Tour de Romandie after winning the first stage on Wednesday, took the second this Thursday by beating Dorian Godon in the sprint, after 173.1km between Rue and Vucherens.

>> Relive the 2nd stage of the Tour de Romandie

The Tour de Romandie continues this Friday with a third stage of 176.6km, with a loop around Orbe which could allow a breakaway to go to the end. Unless Tadej Pogacar, overall leader and winner of the last two stages, decides to continue his crazy raid. Departure at 1:35 p.m. Follow live commentary on the RMC Sport website and app.