A demanding day saw the Tour de Romandie peloton tackle several climbs and a mountain finish on the penultimate day of racing. It was a fast start with several attacks before things seemed to settle once the break had formed, with all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders in the peloton. However, a fierce pace was set on the opening climb and the bunch thinned down dramatically, with only Gijs Leemreize left in the small GC peloton for the team. Things regrouped somewhat regrouped in the following valley before things split again, with Leemreize ultimately having to let go of the wheels and ride home at his own pace.
Speaking after the stage Leemreize said: “It was a hard stage today. Ineos set a hard pace on the first climb and the bunch completely exploded. There was only a small bunch left, but in the valley the group got a bit bigger again. On the rest of the climbs the bunch continued to get smaller and smaller and at one point I also had to let go and ride my own pace. Before the last climb we almost made it back in the first group with a small chasing group, but just didn’t make contact. On the climb the GC group of course then sped up so I just rode my own tempo to the finish.”