Swiss rider Stefan Bissegger outsprinted the other survivors of a breakaway on Wednesday to win the fourth
stage of the Tour de Suisse, as Mathieu Van Der Poel kept the overall lead.

Bissegger of Education First edged French rider Benjamin Thomas of
Groupama-FDJ and American Joey Rosskopf of Rally Cycling in the last 200 meters in the
rain on Gstaad airfield at the end of a 171km run from St Urban. The pack finished 5min 16sec back.

"Finally I got a stage win at the Tour de Suisse," said Bissegger. "I'm
really happy with that." It was a second Swiss success of the race.

Stefan Küng won the opening time trial on Sunday, in which Bissegger had
finished second. Dutchman Van der Poel, who rides for Alpecin, won the other two stages.
He retained his one-second overall lead over Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe
of Deceuninck - Quick Step. Küng is third. Bissegger jumped to fifth.

It was also Bissegger's second victory in a senior race. The first was in a
time trial in Paris-Nice in March.

"I would say this one is nicer," he said. "This was a normal road stage,
and the other one was a time trial, so more for specialists. Both are nice but
here in Switzerland it's maybe even a bit nicer."

The breakaway escaped with 30 kilometres to go and the peloton made little
effort to catch them.  

For the last 20km, Bissegger, Thomas and Rosskopf, three powerful rollers
on the flat, were away on their own. Each tried to shake the other two without success, before Bissegger broke
clear in the last 200m.

"I wasn't very comfortable in the rain. The sprint wasn't a big deal,
Stefan was a little bit fresher than me", Thomas said.

At the start of the day, Belgian team Intermarche-Wanty Gobert team dropped
out of the race announcing that one of their staff had tested positive for
Covid-19.

On Thursday, the 175km fifth stage between Gstaad and Leukerbad offers two
first category climbs.