Stefan Kung of BMC took the win on the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland.
Stage Four was another day of climbs from La Neuveville to Fribourg and on this 169.8km stage, Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Stefan Küng (BMC), Anton Vorobyev (Katusha) and Bertjan Lindeman (Lotto-Jumbo), were in a break with only four kilometres gone.
Jan Bakelants of AG2R and Pavel Kochetkov of Katusha joined them and they took a lead which got to a maximum of 5.50 clear.
The riders had just passed Mont-Pèlerin when Bakelandts tried to go away on his own. However, he was soon caught and the six continued with a lead of 4.50 after 85 kilometres.
Westra was dropped before Vorobyev took the Châtel-St-Denis sprint and then returned to the peloton.
Bakelants took the eight points on the Les Pacots category two climb as the escapers took a lead of 2.50 into the final fifty kilometres of the stage.
Kochetkov had his turn to take some points when he crested the category two Sorens climb first but Stefan Küng of BMC had grown tired of the company and away he went.
With the rain coming down, the Swiss rider was thirteen seconds clear when he took the sprint at Rossens and the same time when he was first over the category three Treyvaux climb.
Stefan Küng had been impressive and he coasted under the flam rouge and then celebrated as he crossed the finish line in 4.35.10 to take a famous win and finish some thirty eight seconds ahead of Bakelants and 39 seconds ahead of Lindeman.
"To win my first WorldTour race in Switzerland, with such a great crowd and with such a great team, is great," Küng said to the BMC Press Office.
"I had a look at this stage before, a week ago. I knew it could be something for me. I like this kind of awful weather – rain and a little bit cold. I gave it a shot and in the end it turned out well. I had very good legs. It was amazing to take this win."
Michael Albasini of Orica GreenEdge continues to lead the race.
Source: DSG
