Tour de Suisse Stage 4: Trentin Arrives 9th in Schwarzenbach Sprint

Tour de Suisse Stage 4: Trentin Arrives 9th in Schwarzenbach Sprint

Etixx - Quick-Step rider Matteo Trentin earned a 9th place finish in a fast paced, hectic 193.2km Stage 4 of Tour de Suisse on Tuesday, from Flims to Schwarzenbach.  Just 23 riders arrived at the same time as stage winner Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE), with Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) placing 2nd and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) 3rd out of the small group sprint.

The pace of the peloton was so high they caught the original breakaway of five riders with less than 50km remaining in the stage. Attacks remained absent going into the final 20km as Orica-GreenEDGE kept the pace high on the front. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) decided to attack solo with 17.7km to go. He gained a little more than a 20" advantage, but he was caught and passed by Marco Marcato (Wanty - Groupe Gobert) with 6.7km to go. Eventually Sergio Henao (Team Sky) and Jan Bakelants (AG2R - La Mondiale) joined Marcato, but all three were brought back by what was left of the peloton with a little more than 2km remaining.

Trentin was led out by two teammates, and then tried to move up on his own going into the final kilometer. He was as far in front as 2nd wheel at one point. But it would be Matthews and Sagan who launched in optimal position in the final few hundred meters to contest the stage. Sagan was ahead briefly, but Matthews went over the top to win, with Van Avermaet just behind Sagan.

Etixx - Quick-Step looks next to the second crucial mountain stage of the Tour de Suisse, 237.3km Stage 5, on Wednesday. The 5th stage, from Unterterzen/Flumserberg to Sölden/Rettenbachgietscher, may be the most decisive for the GC. There is HC Bielerhöhe, which summits at kilometer 109.6, and a very difficult HC summit finale.

"It was again really hard," Trentin said of the stage. "Because it looked like a sprint stage, but it wasn't at all. A few teams did the race hard on the climbs to try and drop guys like Cav and Kristoff and today, they did it effectively. Tinkoff-Saxo did it on the first climb, and then Orica-GreenEDGE on the final lap. They pulled really strong. I don't know how many riders arrived at the finale because of these efforts, but it wasn't a lot. Still, my teammates did a good job going into the final kilometers. They looked for me on one of the last climbs, and we took the climb at our tempo so we could still be in the first group, even if we dropped a little. At the end it was a little bit chaotic. I still had Michal Golas and Julien Vermote with me. We tried to go to the front on the last hill into the finish. But it was hectic. Everyone was without teammates. There was also a crash. I tried to go along and launch my sprint. I did the best my legs could do today. I think the strongest guy won today, so congratulations to Matthews. It was a really hard day of racing and OK, I finished in the top 10 of the stage. We'll keep doing our best every day."