Tadej Pogačar retains leader’s jersey with fourth place at the Tour de Romandie

After winning two stages on the bounce at the Tour de Romandie, Tadej Pogačar was forced to settle for fourth place on stage 3. Raced to and from Orbe in Switzerland, the fourth day of racing saw the honours contested in a 34-man reduced bunch sprint, won by Dorian Godon of Ineos Grenadiers.

Finishing strongly, Pogačar powered his way to fourth place at the finish, retaining his race lead of 17 seconds over Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. In third place overall lies Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), who sits 26 seconds back on Pogačar with two days of racing to go.

On stage 3, UAE Team Emirates-XRG kept a controlled pace in the peloton through the fine work of Vegard Stake Laengen and Ivo Oliveira, before Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe decided to keep the breakaway on a tight leash over the final climb. Their ambition was to sprint for the stage victory through Finn Fisher-Black, who ultimately came across the line in second.

With Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Lidl-Trek and Ineos Grenadiers all determined to squash the break’s aspirations, the race came together inside the final 10km. As Felix Großschartner guided Pogačar into position, it was Godon who timed his sprint best to take the win.

With fourth place across the line, Pogačar handily retained his race lead and can now look forward to the weekend, where he will hope to win his first Tour de Romandie on debut.

Pogačar: “We kept it under control until the climb, we wanted to pace ourselves over the climb, but one team had other ideas, which is good for us as well, to go all out on the climb. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe pushed really good on the climb, and the small group stayed, with them catching the breakaway. In the end, Lidl-Trek and Ineos gave a really good chase and it was also a strong breakaway, but a good day for us.

“We have two hard stages coming up, so we were saving the legs a little for tomorrow and the day after. In the sprint, when Godon kicks with the heavy gear, he is long gone. It was not like yesterday, he waited for the final and it was not a great speed, so he could make a big difference compared to me. I still did a pretty solid sprint, and a nice finish.”

Tour de Romandie 2026 stage 3 results:

1. Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) 3:58:18

2. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) st.

3. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) ”

4. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) “

Tour de Romandie 2026 general classification after stage 3:

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 12:06:46

2. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +17″

3. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) +26″

Meanwhile, over at Eschborn-Frankfurt, Adrià Pericas rode to a career-best 10th-place finish in a WorldTour race.

In the one-day race, Pericas was part of an elite selection of riders that formed over the top of the final climb, some 30km from the finish. With the likes of Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) in tow, the young UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider was in fine company.

The breakaway group made for a thrilling finale in Frankfurt, as the peloton of sprinters looked to close them down from behind. Inside the final kilometre, it seemed as though the Pericas group had been swallowed by the bunch, but in fact it was Georg Zimmermann of Lotto Intermarché that emerged from the front group to sprint across the line in first place.

Making a valiant effort to take a top result, Pericas also sprinted out of his saddle and looked to deny those from the peloton. In the end, the 19-year-old was able to place in 10th, marking his best performance to date in a race of this stature. The Spaniard continues to go from strength to strength in his first season as part of the Emirati WorldTour squad.

Eschborn-Frankfurt 2026 result:

1. Georg Zimmermann (Lotto Intermarché) 4:59:34

2. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) s.t

3. Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) ”

10. Adrià Pericas (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) “