Verdugo fourth in Romandie queen-stage

Euskaltel continued their red-hot form in the Tour de Romandie today with aggressive racing and a brilliant fourth place for Gorka Verdugo.

The race's 184km queen-stage from Bulle to Sion was unsurprisingly taken out by the ever-classy Luís León Sánchez from a 37-man strong lead group. It could well have been another rider in orange who ended up on the top step of the podium though. First, Jorge Azanza made it into the break of the day, before Mikel Landa showed just what a capable climber he's become on the WorldTour with a dangerous attack along with Gadret and Nocentini on the last major climb. It wasn't to be though for the youngster, but Euskaltel weren't done just yet. Mikel Astarloza launched a bold solo move inside the last ks, but was swept up without much fuss shortly thereafter. Sánchez prevailed in the sprint, beating Nocentini, Samoilau and Verdugo to the line.

Landa and Astarloza also finished inside the first group, meaning the latter rose to 16th on GC, and is thus well on course for a strong overall result with only tomorrow's 16,5km hill time trial on the Crans-Montana left. On current form, look out for the likes of Verdugo and Landa in particular as well to shine in the cronoescalada. 


Stage results:

• (1, Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank), 4:56:13
• 4, Gorka Verdugo, s.t.
• 30, Mikel Landa, s.t.
• 36, Mikel Astarloza, s.t.
• 76, Jorge Azanza, 14:46
• 88, Egoi Martínez, s.t.
• 103, Ricardo García, s.t.
• 105, Romain Sicard, s.t.
• 119, Alán Pérez, 18:39

General classification:

• (1, Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank), 17:36:35
• 16, Mikel Astarloza, 0:27
• 28, Gorka Verdugo, 0:34
• 35, Mikel Landa, 0:41
• 72, Egoi Martínez, 15:25
• 79, Jorge Azanza, 17:49
• 83, Romain Sicard, 19:36
• 99, Ricardo García, 26:11
• 137, Alán Pérez, 45:18