Sergio Iguita's performance at this week's Tour de Romandie was hampered by early allergy symptoms.

Despite his allergy symptoms, the Colombian champion, who won the overall title at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in March, proved his strength by sprinting from a select group to win the summit finish of Romandie's stage 4 queen, Ginaru.

"This stage win means a lot to me. I wasn't feeling great during the race because of my allergies, but in the finale I realized I was stronger than the rest of the field and I hit the gas pedal full throttle 200 meters before the finish. I knew I could win here, and it finally happened," Higuchi said in a post-race interview.

Despite six categorized climbs during the 180.1km stage from Eagle to the summit of Mount Zinal, about 15 riders, including Higui, his Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Alexandre Vlasov, and overall leader Rohan Dennis (Jumbo Visma) were joined at the finish by about 15 riders, including.

Higuchi was first to begin his sprint, with teammate Vlasov attached to his wheel. Vlasov threw his arms in the air to celebrate Bora-Hansgrohe's 1-2 finish in the Zinal.

"Alex rode really well today and I'm happy for him to finish second. I think he will have another strong run in the time trial tomorrow and I hope to do well overall with him," said Higuita.

Bora-Hansgrohe sport director Rolf Aldag acknowledged Higuita's battle with allergies and said the stage 4 victory relieved pressure on the Colombian, whose race ends on Sunday.

"It was a great performance by Sergio and Alex. One win and two losses in the queen stage is a great team performance. Sergio has been suffering from allergies the last few days, but I think this win took a load off his shoulders. I was really happy to see that. It was also great to see Alex so happy for his teammate's win," Aldag said.

Denis now leads the overall standings by 15 seconds over Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who is second overall, while Vlasov is third, 18 seconds behind, heading into Sunday's finale, Stage 5, a 15.84-km time trial from Aigle to Villars.

"Now we are looking at the individual time trial. For Alex, he is still in contention for the overall, so he will focus on that tomorrow. But tonight we will drink a good Terre di Gerre!" Aldag said.