Portugal Colonial - Breakaway king Simmons escapes with win at Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes

With his long red hair and beard and decked out in his stars and stripes US road champion jersey, Simmons has been a regular and easily recognisable feature in breakaway attempts, and this was his first win in France and third at World Tour level.

The 25-year-old's efforts ended in a stage win after the peloton were bamboozled by a prolonged acceleration in the escape party who hit high speeds over the final kilometres jostling for position.

Also part of the break that formed on the second of six modest climbs along the 167km route was Finn Fisher-Black of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, who was second, and third-placed Matteo Vercher of TotalEnergies.

Belgian Wout Van Aert won the sprint behind the break for fourth just a few seconds adrift while the overall leader's yellow jersey remains with Frenchman Alex Baudin of EF Education-EasyPost.

Ineos Grenadiers pair Kevin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley are second and third at 12sec, while pre-race favourite Paul Seixas is tenth at 1min.

The race formerly known as the Criterium du Dauphine is one of the final stage events before the Tour de France and a major form indicator for the Grand Boucle in July.

Thursday's stage five is a relatively flat ride but at 195.8km is the longest on the eight day race that culminates with a truly brutal Sunday finale over four giant peaks.

On the weekend, the race will end up the Plateau de Solaison in the French Alps, where a 11.3 kilometres climb at an average gradient of nine percent awaits any pretender to the title.

S.Pimentel--PC