Simon Spilak (Katusha) continued his excellent 2013 season as he convincingly won stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie while Chris Froome (Sky) strengthened his clutch on the yellow jersey on a day that saw the parcours altered due to the miserable weather conditions.

Yet another race was affected by horrible weather circumstances as snow on top of the Col de la Croix meant that the day’s original final climb was removed from the route and substituted by the lower ascent of the slopes of Les Mosses before an 8 km long plateau to the finish line in Les Diablerets.

Even though the day’s final climb was not as difficult as originally planned, it still produced considerable alterations in the general classification. After a number of riders including Spilak, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Robert Kiserlovski (RadioShack) had attacked an increasingly isolated Froome on the final climb, the yellow jersey took matters into his own hands and bridged across as they front riders were approaching the summit.

5 km from the top, Froome skyrocketed off in lone pursuit after another acceleration by Spilak and the two had 10 seconds in hand over the chasers by the time they crossed the summit. The pair collaborated smoothly thereafter, and as the chasers completely failed to organise anything even remotely resembling a decent chase, the front duo expanded their lead out to over a minute by the finish at Les Diablerets.

Spilak saw off Froome straightforwardly in the two-up sprint, while Rui Costa and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) led the chasers home 1:03 down.

Stage 4 result:

1. Spilak (Katusha)

2. Froome (Sky)

3. Costa (Movistar)

4. Valverde (Movistar)

5. Kelderman (Blanco)

6. Betancour (AG2R)

7. Wyss (IAM)

8. Peraud (AG2R)

9. Kiserlovski (RadioShack-Leopard)

10. Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi)

General Classification:

1. Froome (Sky)

2. Spilak (Katusha) 47”

3. Costa (Movistar) 1’ 21”