Egan Bernal fifth in first mountain test

Egan Bernal climbed to fifth on stage four of the Tour de Suisse, with an assured performance on the Gotthard Pass. 

A strong breakaway escaped early in the day and quickly built up an advantage of over five minutes on the predominately flat run to the finale. The Grenadiers were instrumental in upping the pace inside the final 10 kilometres, with Brandon Rivera attacking out of the group to force a selection.

Bernal quickly found himself in much reduced group, with the breakaway looking set to take the win on the day. An attack by Adam Yates (UAE) forced yet another selection, with Bernal responding well to form a chase group of three. 

The Colombian was not quite able to maintain the effort, however, and would slip from the chasing trio in the final two kilometres. Egan would cross the line fifth, one minute down on breakaway rider Torstein Træen.

The Grenadiers were also in action at the Tour of Slovenia, where some canny riding by Jhonatan Narvaez saw him take three bonus seconds. Elia Viviani was ready to challenge in the sprint, but found himself boxed in. The race continues tomorrow with a 178 kilometre stage to Rogaška Slatina.