If the 180.1 km and 4,160 m of elevation gain from Aigle gave hope for an explanation between favorites, the victory was finally decided in the sprint between twenty survivors of the suffocating train imposed by the Jumbo-Visma of Dennis.
In this game, the recent winner of the Tour of Catalonia, a small 24-year-old climber (1.66 m), sprang 200 meters from the line to beat his Russian teammate Aleksandr Vlasov by a hair, who won six places overall. and settled on the podium, 18 seconds behind the Australian.
"Today I was always behind Vlasov because he was the leader, I was ready in case he had a failure. In the final, the sprint started on the right and I went to left, I saw that he was in my wheel and I gave it my all," Higuita told RTS.
The great Spanish hope Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), 19, took third place in the stage, scraping four places overall to stall 15 seconds behind Rohan Dennis.
Thibaut Pinot, too short in the final, finished fifth.
Rohan Dennis, 11th 3 seconds behind Higuita, never saw his green jersey threatened as his teammates stifled all opposition, controlling a breakaway that started in the Rhone Valley before skimming the peloton on the long climb to Zinal.
The Australian is ideally placed before the 16 km time trial including 11 km of ascent on Sunday towards the resort of Villars, a specialty of which he is double world champion (2018 and 2019).
Perfectly protected by his teammates from the Jumbo Visma in the 4th stage of the Tour de Romandie, on April 30, 2022, the Australian Rohan Dennis is ideally placed at the top of the general classification before the 5th and last stage, Sunday May 1 Fabrice COFFRINI AFP/ Archives
Main victim of the day after having already received a 20-second penalty on Wednesday for a bottle outside the authorized zone, the outgoing winner Geraint Thomas found himself isolated and dropped in the final ascent, finishing 27th.
In general, the Welshman from Ineos is now 1 min 55 behind Dennis, three ranks ahead of Thibaut Pinot (26th at 2 min 05).
© 2022 AFP