UAE just keeps winning! Vine snatches 36th victory of the season with late attack in Tour of Romandie

After Thursday’s stage win by Lorenzo Fortunato, the peloton rolled on through Switzerland on Friday. Stage 3 of the Tour of Romandie was, at least on paper, the least difficult of the Swiss stage race. The climb to the start and finish town of Cossonay (2.2 km at 5.8%) likely didn’t scare many riders, but the Col du Mollendruz (14.1 km at 3.1%, with the summit 40 km from the finish) was rather long. The finish line was atop that same climb to Cossonay, setting the stage for an explosive finale!

As expected in a hilly opening phase, four riders broke away early on: Stefan Küng (Groupama–FDJ), Huub Artz (Intermarché–Wanty), Bauke Mollema (Lidl–Trek), and Tobias Bayer (Alpecin–Deceuninck). Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) tried to bridge the gap but failed, and Bayer eventually dropped from the front group. That left three riders in the break: Küng, Artz and Mollema.

They were given plenty of space by the peloton, at one point holding a lead of six minutes. In an otherwise quiet stage up to that point, two riders abandoned: Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) and Anton Kuzmin (XDS–Astana) called it a day.

The race came alive on the long Col de Mollendruz (14.1 km at 3.5%). At the front, Mollema had to let go of Artz and Küng after an acceleration by the Groupama–FDJ rider. In the peloton, the pace was also ramping up — the bunch had closed the gap to just 2 minutes and 20 seconds behind the Artz–Küng duo with 50 km to go. Around that time, Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor), Milan Menten (Lotto), and Clément Champoussin (XDS–Astana) also abandoned.

With another acceleration on the Col de Mollendruz, Küng dropped Artz as well. The Dutchman saw the local rider ride off, while Mollema remained stuck between Artz and the peloton. The Lidl–Trek rider was eventually caught by the still-chasing bunch.

The peloton closed in quickly. At 29 kilometers from the finish, Artz was reeled in, and soon after, Küng suffered the same fate. Despite putting up a strong fight, the Swiss rider from Groupama–FDJ was caught with 11 kilometers to go. Buckle up — the final showdown was about to begin.

The pace in the peloton skyrocketed as many teams battled for position before the final climb. A pace surge from Movistar put top favorite Matthew Brennan in trouble. Vine then launched a strong attack and managed to break away. Decathlon AG2R led the chase behind, but it was too late. Vine secured UAE’s 36th win of the year. Behind him, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) crossed the line in second place, while Alex Baudin (EF Education–EasyPost) kept hold of the leader’s jersey.