Skjelmose, Bernal, and Onley stand out under Swiss UAE regime: "Yates was good, but the GC is still wide open"

UAE-Team Emirates dominated the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, with Adam Yates ultimately gaining time and seizing the leader's jersey, and João Almeida securing fourth place in the stage to move up to second in the overall standings. Following the first uphill finish, several riders remain close enough to challenge the UAE team, with three names particularly standing out on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old defending champion was no match for Yates, but he did beat Almeida in the sprint for third place. The Dane from Lidl-Trek is thus well-positioned to achieve another excellent overall ranking in Switzerland. "I think we played it well today. The guys believed in me and kept the breakaway under control, especially Jacopo," Skjelmose praised his road captain Jacopo Mosca in a press release.

The race heated up on the Gotthard Pass as expected, with Skjelmose giving up 25 seconds (including two bonus seconds) to Yates. "His attack was powerful; I might have kept up if I had been right on his wheel. I felt strong, so I pushed the pace to minimize the time lost. I’m satisfied with how I handled the first mountain challenge after a high-altitude training camp. On days like today, there's always a bit of doubt, but I felt great. Even though Yates is in top form, the overall standings remain wide open. We still have three mountain stages and a time trial ahead," he reflected.

Did we secretly expect a bit more from Egan Bernal? Perhaps. He finished fourth, three-quarters of a minute behind Yates and exactly a minute from winner Torstein Træen. Not a bad result, the Colombian judged at the top of the Passo Gottardo. "It was a good test. A fairly long and tough climb, but it’s one that helps us understand where we stand."

After three broken collarbones in half a year, it was a delightful sensation for Oscar Onley to climb with the best again. The 21-year-old Brit is a down-to-earth guy who, in a press release after the race, mainly thanked his teammates from Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL. "They did really great work protecting me throughout the entire stage."

On the final climb, it was Frank van den Broek's job to set up Onley well. In the final stretch, he crossed the line just over a minute behind Yates as sixth, in a group of five. "Frank dropped me off perfectly in the train of UAE-Team Emirates when they started to increase the pace. From there, it was all about the legs. I made some mistakes, but this is a solid start and something to build on for the rest of the week, I think."