Lennard Kämna takes his first career win as Primož Roglič stays in yellow after stage four of Critérium du Dauphiné 2020

Lennard Kämna took a solo win after attacking the breakaway in the final 3km of stage four of the Critérium du Dauphiné, beating David De La Cruz to the line.

The day saw three of the top GC riders drop out of the race. Egan Bernal (Team Ineos), Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) all abandoning, Bernal not taking the start while the other two crashed out during the stage.

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) also crashed but kept his overall lead comfortably, even despite a late hit out by Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).

How it happened

The riders started the day in Ugine and traveled 157km, taking in over 4,000 metres of ascending to the airfield in Megève.

A huge group went up the road including Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Ineos), Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-McLaren), David De La Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) and Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe).

>>> Steven Kruijswijk and Emanuel Buchmann crash out of Critérium du Dauphiné

The race had been controlled all day by Jumbo-Visma, who had sat up to let Roglič back on, just before hitting the biggest climb of the day, the Montée de Bisanne.

The break hit the Bisanne with a 3-50 gap and they began to break down, the pace initially set by De Gendt, but he was then dropped as Alaphilippe kicked on, at first this was only followed by Kwiatkowski but then the majority came back.

Behind, with 44km to go, it was Bahrain-McLaren who increased the pace, looking like they were going to set up Mikel Landa, but when it came to him to attack he sat up. Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) then tried a move but that was shut down by Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma).

De La Cruz took maximum points on every climb except the final one, so he takes the king of the mountains jersey away from his teammate and stage three winner, Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates).

The break's gap dropped to 2-20 as they went over the top where Alaphilippe pushed on to pull out the gap.

The descent saw more riders rejoin the peloton as Jumbo-Visma decided to let the break get away.

>>> Egan Bernal abandons Critérium du Dauphiné 2020

As the riders hit the climb up to Megève, the pace ramped up again in the break, and it was Elissonde who used a traffic island to attack with 7km to go.

He pulled out a decent gap before De La Cruz caught up. Behind, Käman was trying to come across with Kwiatkowski, who Kämna then dropped.

The Bora-Hansgrohe rider attacked over the top, first dropping Elissonde and then eventually dropping De La Cruz too with 3km to go.

Behind, Jumbo-Visma had full control of the race and there were no attacks at all. Kämna pushed hard and pulled out the gap, winning by over 40 seconds.

Roglič followed his main rival, Pinot, in a sprint where they took ninth and tenth. Roglič keeps yellow going into the final day.

The final stage of Critérium du Dauphiné 2020 is a 157km loop around Megève, where Primož Roglič will once again defend his race lead.

Results

Critérium du Dauphiné 2020, stage four - Ugine to Megève (157km)

1. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 4-27-56

2. David De La Cruz (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 41s

3. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 56s

4. Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at 58s

5. Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo, at 1-02

6. Fausto Masnada (Ita) CCC Team, at 1-10

7. Michał Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Ineos, at 1-19

8. Marc Hirschi (Sui) Team Sunweb, at 1-43

9. Thibaut Pino (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 3-01

10. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at same time.

General classification after stage four

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 17-45-32

2. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 14s

3. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis, at 24s

4. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren, at 26s

5. Daniel Martínez (Col) EF Pro Cycling, at same time

6. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 32s

7. Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkéa-Samsic, at 35s

8. Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo, at same time

9. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-17

10. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 1-24