Germany's Lennard Kamna of Bora-hansgrohe soared to a solo victory on the Criterium du Dauphine on Saturday as Primoz Roglic survived a nasty fall to hold on to the overall lead.

Roglic arrived at the Megeve summit finish line three minutes adrift of the winner in the main pack with the surviving overall contenders all taking the same time.

But the Slovenian former ski jumper was badly grazed after a fall and he lost a key teammate as Jumbo-Visma's Steven Kruijswijk pulled out early on.

The Dutchman was third in last season's Tour de France and suffered a dislocated shoulder here, appearing disconsolate at the roadside two weeks ahead of the Grande Boucle.

"It was a hard fall for Primoz and he didn't feel well," Jumbo's Grischa Niermann said after the race.

"We need to look at the damage and see how it goes in the morning."

It was a day of mixed emotions for German team Bora despite their stage win as in the same downhill crash they lost three men, including Emanuel Buchmann, who came fourth on the 2019 Tour.

The day started with raised eyebrows as British team Ineos general and reigning Tour de France champion Egan Bernal pulled out of the race with a bad back.

After the race Ineos sports director Gabriel Rasch said he took Bernal out of the race as a precaution to make sure he's 100 percent for the start of the Tour de France in Nice.

"He rode back to the hotel and he could have done the stage today for sure."

"He had a back injury that's he's had before, so we wanted to make sure that we had enough time between here and the start of the Tour to treat it," he said.

Bittersweet Bora 

Stage winner Kamna revealed he had originally escaped so as to help his teammate Buchmann, who started the day in third and had planned to attack.

"He was going to attack on the penultimate summit," Kamna revealed." I hope he's okay for the Tour."

"This is my first pro win, so I want to keep something of it for myself," said the 23-year-old Kamna, who dropped everyone in a powerful escape group including Julian Alaphilippe and Michal Kwiatkowski.

There were around 40km of climbs on this run through southeastern France's Haute-Savoie region, known for its mountains, lakes and Evian mineral water, and which culminated with a view of Mont Blanc at the finish line.

Sunday's final stage features almost 50km of climbs and begins and ends in the ski resort of Megeve with its charming wooden chalets, health spas and panoramic views of the Alps.

Standings after four of five stages

1. Primoz Roglic (SLO/JUM) 17hr 45min 32sec, 2. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) at 14sec, 3. Guillaume Martin (FRA/COF) 24, 4. Mikel Landa (ESP/BAH) 26, 5. Daniel Martinez (COL/EF1) 26, 6. Miguel Angel Lopez (COL/AST) 32, 7. Nairo Quintana (COL/ARK) 35, 8. Richie Porte (AUS/TRE) 35, 9. Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAE) 1:17, 10. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 1:24