Frigo retains Romandie lead

Dario Frigo stays ahead of the Tour of Romandie field

Italy's Dario Frigo retained his overall lead of the Tour de Romandie after a mountainous fourth stage on Saturday.

Frigo finished sixth on a tough stage, 14 seconds behind fellow Italian Gilberti Simoni, who won by the narrowest of margins.

Having grabbed the leader's green jersey off race leader Paolo Savoldelli in Friday's time trial, Frigo stretched his lead, his total time now 12 hours 50 minutes three seconds

Simoni judged his finish to perfection to take the 104-mile stage through mountains east of Lake Geneva, which ends with a tough 5.6-mile climb to the Nendaz ski resort.

Ullrich off-form

Local rider Sven Montgomery, locked to the wheel of stage leader Spain's Manuel Beltran, set Swiss fans' pulses racing by attacking yards from the finish.

But Montgomery misjudged his ability to keep up the pace in the final sprint, and Simoni, a powerful climber, made a desperate final charge to take the stage.

Second-placed Beltran was credited with the same time, with Montgomery three seconds behind.

Italy's Vladimir Belli placed fourth in the stage and jumped from 11th to third in the overall rankings.

Savoldelli faces a tough task to retain his tour title, after placing just 30th in the stage, and dropping to 12th overall.

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is still languishing well off the pace. He finished the stage 60th and is 56th overall, over 13 minutes behind.

Rous leads Dunkirk

Didier Rous won the fifth stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk and took the overall race lead with two stages remaining.

Rous of the Bonjour team won a five-man sprint to the line ahead of Dutchman Jeroen Blijlevens (Lotto) and fellow Frenchman Stephane Heulot (Big Mat-Aubert).

Rous' winning time of four hours 10 minutes 35 seconds gives him a nine-second lead over compatriot and close friend Laurent Jalabert (CSC WorldOnLine), who was fourth on the stage.

The stage victory puts Rous in a strong position to add to the Tour of the Vendee and Climbers Trophy titles he has already won

But Rous feels his nine-second lead could be a fragile one with the penultimate stage an eight-mile time trial at Pol-sur-Mer.

It will be tough becaue Jalabert is a time trial specialist

  Didier Rous

"It will be tough because Jalabert is a time-trial specialist, but I'll just have to attack and try to do my best," he said.

The main bunch finished over a minute behind the breakaway group on Saturday, leaving Rous, Jalabert and his brother Nicolas Jalabert (CSC WorldOnLine) as the three title favourites.

Previous overall leader Jaan Kirsipuu of Estonia, winner of three of the first four stages, dropped to eighth overall.