Tour de Romandie - Geraint Thomas suffers ‘inexplicable’ crash as Michael Woods wins Stage 4

ByEurosport

Updated 01/05/2021 at 16:43 GMT

Michael Woods won Stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie after the 161.3km ride from Sion to Thyon. The race finished in highly unusual circumstances as Geraint Thomas suffered an “inexplicable” crash just metres from the finish line. The Welshman recovered, but had to settle for a third-placed finish. Woods assumed the lead in the General Classification.

Woods rides into yellow as Thomas suffers ‘inexplicable’ crash on Stage 4

Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) won Stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie to move into yellow after Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) suffered an ‘inexplicable’ crash metres from the finish.

In a bizarre ending to the Queen Stage in foul conditions, Thomas - who has not won a race since the 2018 Tour de France - crashed in the final sprint while alongside Woods with around 30m left of the race.

Woods, Lucas Hamilton (Team BikeExchange), Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën Team) and Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck - Quick Step) broke with just over four kilometres left on the 20km mountain-top finish in Thyon. Thomas, having initially stayed with the yellow jersey group, would follow, and, having caught Woods with 2km of the category 1 climb to go, the Welshman looked primed to ride into yellow.

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However, as the 2018 Tour de France winner rose from his seat to open up his sprint, he lost his balance and took to the tarmac in sodden conditions. Rob Hatch on Eurosport commentary called the crash "inexplicable".

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Woods finished in a time of 4:58.35 with Australia's O'Connor pipping Thomas - who struggled to remount his bike - into second, finishing 17 seconds behind Woods. Thomas trudged over the line 21 seconds in arrears behind the new race leader.

Thomas crashes at the death as Woods wins Stage 4 to take yellow

The 34-year-old Woods, who started the day 30 seconds off Marc Soler (Movistar), moved up from 16th in the General Classification and holds an 11-second advantage over Thomas ahead of Sunday's stage. O'Connor sits a further 10 seconds back in third.

Despite the crash, Thomas will enter Sunday's 16.19km Individual Time Trial around Fribourg as the favourite given his prowess against the clock.