Geneva: On stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse, UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Tadej Pogačar surged to victory in the individual time trial under challenging conditions. After his teammate João Almeida claimed overall victory last season, the Slovenian delivered another outstanding performance to take the stage honours.

Winning by less than a second, Pogačar underlined his status as race leader, signalling that anyone targeting the yellow jersey would need an exceptional performance on Sunday’s stage 5.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider now holds a lead of over four minutes heading into the final stage and looks fully deserving of his advantage. Saturday marked his second stage win of the week, giving the Emirati squad three victories in four days, following Jhonatan Narváez’s triumph on stage 3.

Pogačar said: “It was really hot out there and a very fast parcours. I felt great, with good legs, and I didn’t realise I was fighting for the win.

“I just wanted to give it everything. I knew I was close, but after the intermediate point I didn’t have any more time checks, so I pushed all the way to the finish. I managed it well, and I am super happy to take the win.”

Tour de Suisse 2026 general classification after stage 4:

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) — 10:56:29

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +4:22

Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +4:27

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +5:16

Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +6:54

Pogačar powers to dominant time trial victory at Tour de Suisse