During the fourth stage of the SkodaTour Luxembourg, the riders had to compete in a 25,4 km individual time-trial, which started and finished in the heart of Dudelange.

It was obvious that this time-trial would probably be decisive in the battle for the overall victory. The profile was far from flat, the 1,5 km climb of the Poteau de Kayl presented a real challenge.

Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck) was the strongest, finishing the stage in 30’52” with an advantage of 2” on his teammate Joao Almeida (Deceuninck) and 26” on Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek).

Almeida took over the yellow jersey of the overall leader from Marc Hirschi (UAE Emirates) and has now an advantage of 43″ on the Swiss rider. Cattaneo is third, 50″ back.

Mattia Cattaneo: “I am very happy, also for Joao (Almeida) and my squad. In this team it is quite easy to become a time trial specialist. I like this discipline. It was the perfect day for us. Tomorrow we will fight to defend Joao’s yellow jersey and to take the overall victory.”

Joao Almeida: “I was really happy with my legs. I gained more time on Marc Hirschi than I expected. Tomorrow is the last day and we will do everything to keep the yellow jersey. It will be a difficult stage, for sure, but we will play all the cards.”