Zwift Tour for All: Bole wins stage 4

Grega Bole (Bahrain McLaren) won stage 4 of the Tour for All on the Zwift eSport platform, winning the close sprint after the likes of Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation) were distanced on the rolling roads of the Sand and Sequoias Watopia course.

Bole came from behind and used a late power-up boost in the sprint to catch late attacker Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (CCC Team) and hit the line first. 

Canada's Pier-André Coté (Rally Cycling) was second, timed at just five hundredths of a second behind Bole, with Nick Schultz (Mitchelton-Scott) third.

NTT Pro Cycling were again consistent and chased points during the race, with Ryan Gibbons finishing sixth and Michael Gogl ninth. They again topped the team points classification and strengthened their overall points classification lead before Friday's final and decisive stage on the climb to L'Alpe du Zwift.

The race was expected to be a day for the sprinters, with teams selecting their fast finishers and key lead-out men. However, the fast pace and rolling route soon had some riders in difficulty and off the back. 

Esteban Chaves paid a high price for riding at altitude in Colombia, while an attack from Benjamin Thomas to win the final intermediate sprint split the group and saw his teammate Démare spat out the back, along with Greipel, Viviani and others.

Van Keirsbulck made a brave late solo attack inside the final kilometre but perhaps knew the riders would use a power-up and pass him. They did, with Gogl going early before Bole came through to win the sprint.

"I used a power-up before and then I waited for the finish because it’s the most important thing, so I kept it until the end," Bole said, explaining the gamification of the sprint as he warmed down.

"On the climbs it was really hard, we pushed a lot of watts, so it was full gas. On the flat and downhill it was a little better and so you could have a little more relaxed ride, so it was a good race."

Bole revealed he has the advantage of training outdoors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We've been able to ride outside all the time, apart from maybe one week. Generally it's been very good in Slovenia, so we've been riding inside and also outside," he said.

The five-race Tour for All ends on Friday with the final race on the mountainous route to the summit of L'Alpe du Zwift. First across the line scores 35 points and, with a huge haul of points available, the final race should shake-up the overall points classification.