Tadej Pogačar proved that he can just about win in any situation on Thursday as he won stage two of the Tour of Romandie in a reduced bunch sprint.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider was part of a significant 32-rider group which made it to the finish after a lumpy stage and timed his sprint to perfection to beat Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers). Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) finished third.

He had survived as riders put in attacks on the final climb, including from Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

It was the second victory in a row for Pogačar, who extended his lead in the yellow jersey as a result. Three stages remain of the race, with the odds of the Slovenian winning every stage now shortened. While Pogačar winning a sprint seems remarkable, it was a front group made up of mostly climbers, in a race almost without any sprinters of not, apart from Godon, who was beaten into second.

"We knew the final lap, we did it three times, and I knew the sprint was going to be tough because of the climbs before," Pogačar said on TV post-stage. "It was indeed, a super-fast climb with a tailwind. The sprint was pretty much headwind and quite downhill, so you couldn't be too much in front. I was, the last corner, too much in front, and suddenly some guys came, and they were too early, and that was an advantage for me."

Asked if the final climb of Vuillens, which they had ascended thrice, was decisive, he said: "To make the difference in time gaps no, but it makes the difference in the legs. If you go over the limit then for sure it's hard to do a good sprint. Luckily for me it was under control and I could still do a good sprint."

No collaboration? No problem. Tadej Pogačar made it look easy on stage one of the Tour de Romandie, outsprinting his three breakaway rivals despite having to do much of the work in the closing stages of the 171km stage, based on Martigny.

Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) attacked with 39km to go on the day's big climb of Ovronnaz, which the riders crested with 22km of the stage to go. A break was formed with Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and, eventually, Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Apparently content to hang with his fellow escapees over the climb, Pogačar took on much of the responsibility of driving the break all the way to the finish, before winning the sprint by several bike lengths.

The Slovenian now takes over the lead from Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers).

Speaking after the race, Pogačar said: "I did not plan anything, but it was nice to take the win against youngsters. It was a really nice race, a really quick day and I was happy with the win in the sprint."

Asked about his decision not to attack the break on the climb, he said he was happy to benefit from the help of his fellow riders, though remarked pointedly on the decision of Lipowitz – who had team-mate Primož Roglič chasing behind – not to contribute.

"The last 22k was headwind... to try to do something would be very stupid. I was happy to have two young, eager guys to pull with me. They did a super good job, they were very strong. We managed to stay in front which was still difficult with only three, and one guy sitting in the wheels it's always harder to stay in front."

Speaking about his own team and their GC aspirations, Pogačar added: "It was all on us all day. The team did a super good job, so also for that I'm super happy to take the yellow. We will try to defend it every stage. They say the best defence is to attack, so we will see how we approach the next days."

With all of yesterday's top 10 losing time, the GC was rewritten, with the breakaway taking the first slots, and riders including Roglič (6th) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious, 7th) also present.

Results to follow...

Tour de Romandie stage 1: Martigny > Martigny, 171km

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 171km in 3:56:55
2. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
3. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious
4. Jørgen Nordhagen (Nor) Visma-Lease a Bike
5. Albert Withen Philipsen (Den) Lidl-Trek, +21s
6. Sergio Higuita (Col) XDS-Astana
7. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
8. Junior Lecerf (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco-AlUla
10. Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda (Ecu) Movistar, all at same time

GC after stage 1

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:00:27
2. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +7s
3. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +16s
4. Jørgen Nordhagen (Nor) Visma-Lease a Bike, +23s
5. Albert Withen Philipsen (Den) Lidl-Trek, +31s
6. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +32s
7. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +41s
8. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers
9. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco-AlUla, all at same time
10. Luke Tuckwell (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +42s

With the Spring Classics now finished, all eyes turn towards the Grand Tours and the spring and summer stage races. The Tour de Romandie is the first of these, and serves as an ideal sharpener for the upcoming Giro d'Italia.

Held in Switzerland, it's a mountainous race (four of the six stages have big climbs), although it began with a flat prologue on Tuesday.

Riding the race for the first time, Tadej Pogačar will be the main attraction this year, although the field boasts plenty of strength in depth, with former Giro d'Italia winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) riding, as well as a host of up-and-comers including Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe).

There is a women's version of the race – the Tour de Romandie Feminin – but that does not take place until September.

Below, Cycling Weekly has laid out all the key information on broadcasters and live streams so you can watch the Tour de Romandie 2026 online or – if you're away from home – from wherever you are.

Today - Stage 5 (Lucins-Leysin)

The final stage is another one that could fall the way of Tadej Pogačar, with a 14.5 km climb up to Col de Leysin the decisive ascent. Florian Lipowitz kept pace well with his rival yesterday, but if Pogačar fancies taking a fourth stage of the Tour, you would be hard-pressed to look past him.

How to watch the Tour de Romandie 2026 online

• FREE STREAMS: RTS (SWI)
• UK: TNT Sports / HBO (£25.99/month)
• US and Canada: Flobikes ($29.99 or CA$39.99/month)
• Watch your free stream from anywhere – try NordVPN (75% off)

Can I watch Tour de Romandie 2026 for free?

If you're based in the host country of Switzerland you're in luck, because you can watch the Tour de Romandie for free on home broadcaster RTS.

Coverage is geo-restricted, so if you're not in any of these countries right now, and these channels are your usual port of call, you'll need a strong VPN to get your usual free cycling streams while abroad – more on that below.

How to watch Tour de Romandie 2026 while abroad

If you’re abroad during the Tour de Romandie, geo-restrictions can make it hard to watch, but a VPN offers an easy workaround. It lets your device appear as if it is in another country so you can access your usual streaming services (as long as it complies with broadcaster terms). VPNs also improve security and can boost playback speeds.

Among the many options, TechRadar ranks NordVPN as the best overall for streaming, security, and value.

Want to know more about VPNs? We have an explainer on the benefits, costs, and considerations of using a VPN...
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How to watch Tour de Romandie 2026 in the UK

In the UK, Tour de Romandie will be shown on TNT Sports and also streamed on HBO Max, with a monthly package now priced at £30.99.

Sign up for a 12-month term and get access for £25.99/month.

How to watch Tour de Romandie 2026 in the US and Canada

Viewers in both the US and Canada will be able to catch the Tour de Romandie this year on Flobikes

You can buy a monthly subscription for $29.99 or CA$39.99, but there are big savings on annual subscriptions.

What to expect at the Tour de Romandie 2026

With a flat prologue followed by five hilly or mountainous stages, this year's Tour de Romandie is very much a climber's race, with a start list to match.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is clearly the headline name and will begin the race as far and away the favourite to win. But joining him – and likely pushing him hard in places – are two other riders from the top four of last year's Tour de France GC: Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers).

Also present is Mauro Schmidt (Jayco-AlUla), a fine climber who can count an overall win at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali in March among numerous solid results so far this season.

Held entirely in the west of the country, the race starts on Tuesday 28 April with a super-short prologue based on Villars-sur-Glâne. Only 3.2km long, the gaps will be negligible, but it will establish an early pecking order. The mountains begin the next day, with a stage based on Martigny that includes laps of a course. The lap-based parcours continues on stage 3 with a lumpy outing from Rue to Vucherens.

The three remaining stages – 4, 5 and 6 – are all mountainous, with the suspense maintained up until the end with a summit finish in Leysin on the last day.

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Dressed in the rainbow bands, and aboard a golden bike, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) barrelled to victory in the closing time trial at the Tour de Romandie on Sunday.

The six-day Swiss race was won overall by João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who finished runner-up on the final day, 12 seconds adrift of the world and Olympic champion, but fast enough to overhaul a three-second deficit on the general classification.

With his effort, the Portuguese rider leapfrogged the previous race leader Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) in the overall standings, claiming the yellow jersey by a comfortable 26 seconds. The victory brought Almeida's second stage race win of the season, following his triumph at Itzulia Basque Country last month.

Evenepoel's victory marked his first against the clock since he defended his world title in Switzerland last September.

The Belgian’s winning time around the 17.1km course in Geneva on Sunday was 20 minutes and 33 seconds - an average speed of close to 50km/h.

"I think I did an almost perfect time trial. I gave it my all today," he said post-race.

The 25-year-old finished fifth overall, having surrendered his GC hopes to support his team-mate Junior Lecerf.

"I came to this race in quite hot-and-cold form, so I didn't have too big ambitions," Evenepoel said. "My biggest focus was on today's stage. Yesterday, I wanted to just push myself to the limit, and push the bar higher. I think I did my best today with another good time trial.

"Now I'm going to take a week off to recover from the Classics and this week in Romandie. I can take this break with a calmer head [thanks to the victory]. It also gives me motivation for what's to come."

Despite entering the race as the overall favourite, Evenepoel never really joined the GC battle in Switzerland.

The leader’s jersey at the Tour de Romandie was worn by four different riders before the final day. After Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) blasted to victory in the opening prologue time trial, another British winner took the spotlight on stage one in Matthew Brennan, who earned his sixth victory of the season, and the yellow jersey.

Victories then followed for Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) and Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on stages two and three, with the race lead guarded by EF Education-EasyPost’s Alex Baudin.

On stage four, a shoot-out between Martinez and Almeida fell in the favour of the former, the Frenchman also heading up the GC into the final day, with only a two-second lead over Fortunato and three over Almeida. The Portuguese rider ended up beating Martinez by almost 30 seconds against the clock.

"I feel very happy," Almeida said, after overhauling the GC. "What counts is the last day... To be honest, I was struggling a little bit the whole week. I was never feeling 100% or very strong, but I gave my best and never gave up.

"Sometimes it's about your mindset and your mind, and the team were by my side to support me."

Martinez hung on to claim second overall, ahead of Vine, Almeida's team-mate, in third.

No British rider has won more races this season than teenager Matthew Brennan, who earned his sixth victory of 2025 on Wednesday at the Tour de Romandie.

The 19-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike rider, in his first season as a pro, won the sprint on stage one of the six-day WorldTour race, accelerating comfortably ahead of his rivals, taking the leader’s jersey in the process.

The victory came a month after the Brit stunned the pack at the Volta a Catalunya, winning two stages, despite being the second youngest rider in the field.

“It was very chaotic,” Brennan said of his latest success in Switzerland. “I think once we got over the climb, we knew we had good legs and we could pull towards the end. I think the guys did a really nice position, pulling me into the early parts and keeping me out of trouble. Coming into the final, I just managed to follow some wheels.

“I actually got a bit further ahead than I thought I would, but in those moments you just have to react to the situation and just keep going.”

Born in Darlington in 2005, the teenager joined Visma-Lease a Bike’s development arm last season, having come through the UK-based Fensham Howes-MAS Design junior team.

Brennan graduated to the WorldTour squad this year, and after just seven races as a pro, was called up for his Paris-Roubaix debut, his sports director Grischa Niermann explaining he had “amazed” the team staff “several times”.

Now, with his win tally growing, where does Brennan see his limits? “I don’t know. I’m not even sure my coaches know,” he said. “We’re still searching for them, so it’s really an exciting time right now.

“Coming to this race, we really wanted to try and achieve something. To finally come out with it, I think for me, for the team, everyone involved is so happy.”

Brennan’s victory at the Tour de Romandie saw him lift the leader’s jersey off the shoulders of fellow Brit Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers), who won Tuesday’s opening prologue.

Despite leading the race, the 19-year-old explained his role will be to support his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Jørgen Nordhagen in the general classification, and aim for another stage win. “I look forward to the next few days,” he said.

Brennan was not the only British winner on Wednesday. Twenty-year-old Noah Hobbs won his second stage of France’s Tour de Bretagne, representing EF Education-EasyPost’s development squad, EF Education-Aevolo.

A lot can happen in 24 hours. On Monday, Sam Watson was out on a training ride, when he received a late call-up to race the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland. Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, and the Ineos Grenadiers rider was pulling on the race’s yellow leader’s jersey, the winner of the prologue.

The 23-year-old Brit was the fastest on a technical 3.44km course in Saint-Imer. His time of four minutes and 33 seconds – an average speed of 45.3.km/h – saw him win by less than three tenths of a second ahead of UAE Team Emirates XRG’s Ivo Oliveira.

“All I felt was pain, to be honest,” Watson said afterwards. “I crossed the line and I didn’t know I was leading until the first interview. It’s quite a nice surprise.

“Yesterday I was out training in Andorra, one and a half hours from home, and I got a call from the team saying, ‘Get to the airport as soon as you can because you’re racing Romandie tomorrow.’ And here I am with a victory, it’s pretty special.”

The win marked the second of Watson’s young career, and his first at WorldTour level.

“I don’t think it’s really set in yet,” he said. “To say I’ve won my first WorldTour race with Ineos, my first win with them, is a bit of a dream.

“It definitely gives me some confidence. I was at the end of quite a hard, three-day [training] block. We can really go into the next days with confidence. On paper, they suit me.”

While some riders opted for road bikes for Tuesday’s unconventionally short race against the clock, Watson was among those who used a full time trial set-up.

Interviewed before the the final riders had finished, the Brit said he felt “horrendous” after his short, all-out effort.

“My head is just pounding, to be honest. It’s not nice,” he said, before going on to reveal for the first time: “I only found out I was coming to this race yesterday.”

Movistar’s Iván Roméo filled out the prologue’s podium, three seconds adrift of Watson. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) placed ninth as the best of the general classification favourites, just four seconds down.

So short was the time trial, that only 10 seconds separated the first rider from the 27th.

The six-day Tour de Romandie continues on Tuesday with stage one. It will close with a time trial in Geneva on Sunday.

Nine months ago, a glance down the top riders lining up for today's Tour de Romandie start in Switzerland would have left you with no doubt: Remco Evenepoel for the win.

But a lot has happened in that time – there was a major crash in December, after what was already a year of setbacks. So far his late start has yielded one win – albeit a minor one in the Belgian's world, at Brabantse Pijl – and a lacklustre showing at Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a race he has won twice.

As such, the Soudal-Quick Step rider has sought to play down expectations at this week's Swiss race.

"Normally, I start stage races with a lot of ambition for the general classification, but that is becoming a bit difficult now," Evenepoel told the pre-event press conference. "I will be very satisfied with a stage win, a good feeling, no real off-day and a good result in the classification. I mainly want to make progress."

The 25-year-old, who did not start racing this year until April 18, said he hoped to test his legs on Saturday's penultimate stage to the ski resort of Thyon 2000, a stage comprising over 4,000m of vertical ascent.

"The last climb is a pretty long effort – over 20 kilometres, so almost an hour of climbing," he said. "The summit is also at 2,000 metres, so it’s going to be a serious test for the whole peloton."

Evenepoel will be riding a golden Olympic champion's time trial bike for the first time in this race – in today's super-short 3.44km prologue, and also on Sunday's final stage, a time trial on the shores of Lake Geneva.

There's no doubt the Belgian will be going all-out for the win on that day and, he says, taking motivation from his new S-Works bike.

"That will be an important test," he said. "Time trials are always important to me. It will be the first time on my new golden time trial bike with my rainbow jersey, that gives motivation. And it is a nice time trial: a bit technical in the beginning, otherwise many straight lines, a climb without a dangerous descent. It will be a nice end to the week.”

As for today's dinky first stage, he declares it will be a "good test for my heart rate and my acceleration", but points out that repeatedly sprinting out of corners is not his forte.

"It is difficult to have ambitions in such a short time trial," he said. "It is always a bit of a lottery. The one who dares to throw himself into the bends the most usually wins."

The Belgian has admitted he considered retirement from bike racing after colliding with the open door of a Belgian postal vehicle in December. He was left with extensive injuries, with fractures to his ribs, hand and shoulder blade, lung contusions and torn ligaments.

He only began racing again this season in mid-April, at Brabantse Pijl.

Today's racing begins at 15:13 CET, with Evenepoel setting off at 16:50. Other GC contenders include Joāo Almeida (UAE-Team Emirates-XRG), Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Alexandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

It sounds like a terrible joke from a book. What is 2.28km long, has 12 corners, and takes just 2:55? 

The answer is the Tour de Romandie's prologue, which took place on Tuesday in the Swiss town of Payerne. 161 of the world's best riders went round a course less than 1.5 miles long in order to claim the first yellow jersey of the race. 

According to the race's press guide, the "spectacular" prologue was designed to show "the charm and history of the town of Queen Berthe, as well as its famed Abbey Church". It certainly was captivating, if a bit odd, to see riders start and finish so quickly.

The winner was Maikel Zijlaard of Tudor Pro Cycling, who went round the tight route at an average speed of 46.9km/h. Such was the weirdness of the course that the top-71 all completed the prologue within 10 seconds or less of each other, and the rider who finished 100th, Jesús Herrada (Cofidis) was just 14 seconds behind Zijlaard. It was not a normal time trial.

"I started quite early, and the last two hours have been the worst two hours of my life," the Dutchman said post-race.

"I'm quite good on this stuff, I was coming here with the goal of the prologue."

While it does seem a bit odd that riders came to Switzerland early for a five-stage race with this 2km sprint tacked onto the beginning of it, it is a tradition which has dated back to 1970. This was the shortest prologue since 1992, but far from the shortest overall, with 1978's being just 800m.

The race's press officer, Giovanni Sammali, explained to Cycling Weekly that the goal of the prologue is just to create a first classification and make sure that there is a race leader for the first stage proper, Wednesday's much more ordinary 165.7km effort to Fribourg.

The corner-heavy short course also gave teams a headache when deciding which bike to use. The squads do have TT bikes with them, for stage three's 15.1km individual time trial, but the majority of riders rode their road bikes, some with disc wheels, and many with time trial helmets.

"It's a beautiful course, not so dangerous," Maxime Monfort, the Lidl-Trek directeur sportif, said. "It's really technical so it might be dangerous at some points if they take too many risks. It's good, because there is a lot of discussion in every team before the start about the bike choice. It will be a combination, maybe 80% on road bikes, and 20% on TT bikes, because of how technical it is. 

"The key is how the rider can handle their TT bike. The TT bike is still faster, but it's all about the cornering. Because the TT bike is so stiff, you have to be a specialist at cornering to have an advantage."

Second-placed Cameron Scott (Bahrain-Victorious) revealed that for him, "the shorter, the better". 

"I was really looking forward to this actually, it's probably one of the better races of the year for me," he said. "I tried to keep my ride fast and smooth."

The whole thing might seem very odd to the majority of us, but the prologue fulfils the role of a team presentation, gets the riders moving, and gives the chance for another town to show off. It also means Maikel Zijlaard has a WorldTour victory, which is a precious prize. All done in under three minutes.

Adam Yates secured his first overall title since joining UAE Team Emirates this season when he finished safely in the bunch on the final stage of the Tour de Romandie, which concluded with a bunch sprint won by Movistar’s Fernando Gaviria. Having moved into the yellow jersey with victory on Saturday’s ‘queen’ stage to the ski station of Thyon 2000, the 30-year-old Briton finished the race 19 seconds clear of Gaviria’s team-mate Matteo Jorgenson, with Bahrain Victorious’ Damiano Caruso third and the hugely promising 20-year-old Briton Max Poole (Team DSM) in fourth.

‘Credit to the guys, they controlled the race perfectly today,’ said Yates, who was making his debut in the Swiss stage race and joked that he was delighted to end it with a 100% winning record. ‘It’s been a perfect week for us with two stage wins and the overall, so we can’t ask for much more,' he added, his mountain triumph coming the day after team-mate Juan Ayuso had been quickest in the 19km time trial.

Romandie was Yates’s first competitive outing since March’s Volta a Catalunya, where he was set back by injuries sustained in an opening day crash. ‘Winning here was the plan after the little break that I had that gave me a chance to recover from my crash in Catalunya,’ said the UAE climber. ‘We knew that there was a big mountain day that I could win. It’s easier said than done and much harder to put all of the pieces together, but in the end we managed to do it.’

Yates will now turn his attention to preparing for the Tour de France, where he will step back into a support role for two-time champion Tadej Pogačar. ‘I’ll have a small break now and then maybe do some altitude, and then step by step we’ll make my condition a little bit better and hopefully be ready for the big objective at the Tour de France,’ he said.

Gaviria, who has a one-year contract with Movistar after leaving UAE in the off-season, clinched his second victory for the Spanish team with a canny piece of sprinting. With 300 metres remaining, the Colombian accelerated to the front going into a sweeping right-hand bend and came out of it with a clear lead. The victory, his first in a WorldTour race since the 2021 Tour of Poland, took him to 51 career successes, level with Nairo Quintana as the leading Colombian winner of all time.

Ethan Vernon continued Soudal Quick-Step’s refreshed run of form at the Tour de Romandie, sprinting emphatically to a stage win on the race’s second day.

The Brit’s victory made it two for two for the Belgian team at the race, coming just 24 hours after his team-mate Josef Černý prevailed in the prologue, a 6.8km individual time trial in the Swiss town of Port-Valais. 

The win also marked the 22-year-old’s second at WorldTour level, his first claimed at the Volta a Catalunya over a year ago. 

“To win again in WorldTour is nice,” he said post-race in Vallée de Joux. “Especially for me, I had three wins at the start of the year, and then I had a bit of sickness after one of my races. So to come back to good fitness and form now is nice.” 

After a comparatively dry Classics season for Soudal Quick-Step, who went almost a month winless between March and April, Vernon’s victory continued an uptick in form for the team. The squad have now won the last three races they started, including Remco Evenepoel’s breakaway triumph at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday. 

“We’re back to winning ways again,” Vernon said, referring to his team’s newfound form. 

The Brit, a world champion in the team pursuit on the track, now leads the Tour de Romandie ahead of Thursday's stage two, tied on time with his team-mate Černý.

Asked what it means to wear the yellow leader’s jersey, he said: “It’s really special. I obviously take it off my team-mate, so we keep it in the team for another day and we keep trying for the GC with the team.

“I’m not sure [if I can keep the jersey]. Tomorrow is hard, but anything is possible. I had good legs today, so we’ll see what the legs are like tomorrow. If not me, we have other cards we can play in the team.” 

Stage two brings an undulating menu of climbs for the peloton, with three category-two ascents and two classified at category three. Starting in Morteau and finishing in La Chaux-de-Fonds, it takes place mostly in the Jura mountains. 

The six-day WorldTour race will conclude this Sunday 30 April in Geneva.

Despite bad luck with injury and illness, the 2022 season has been one of growth Anna Shackley, the 21 year-old netting her best ever results. In her second year with SDWorx, arguably the best team in the women’s peloton, the Scottish rider is maturing into one of the strongest climbers, and her late season results reflect that development.

On Sunday she finished 10th on general classification at the first edition of the Tour de Romandie, her result born of a strong performance on the stage two mountain top finish at the Thyon 2000 ski resort. 

There she was 10th after helping her team mate, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio to a stage victory which saw her take the overall in the race’s first edition.

“I was a little bit tired yesterday,” Shackley told CW, slightly underplaying her state of fatigue as she reached the team van in the Swiss rain. “It was good, definitely a new experience, I’ve never climbed so much in a race before. We did a 14km climb then a 17km climb and I’ve never raced that, and it’s very different from training to racing, but it was a good experience to do.”

Part of only a four woman SDWorx squad, on Sunday she was well enough recovered to escort Moolman-Pasio through the final stage and over the line to ensure her GC success.

From Milngavie, just north of Glasgow, Shackley began her cycling career with Glasgow riders when she was around six, eventually choosing cycling over ballet. After being picked up by Cycling Scotland she graduated to the GB programme, and when SDWorx manager Danny Stam spoke to her coach, Emma Trott, the connection was made and she turned professional in 2021. 

Though she deservedly rode the Tokyo Olympics in support of Lizzie Deignan, last season she would often be seen sliding out of the back of groups relatively early in hilly races. In this year's late late season stage races she has been an obvious ever present in the leading group. And not only in Switzerland last weekend.

At September’s Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta she was 10th behind eventual race winner Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) on the race’s GC defining second stage. And while that was her best result to date, she eventually finished seventh overall. 

But this year has not all gone to plan with crashes and even worse, COVID catching her immediately before what she hoped would be a first appearance at July’s Giro Donne.

“That was pretty gutting actually,” she told us before Sunday’s final stage at Romandie. “This year it was my main focus and I really wanted to do it and do well in it, then I got COVID literally the day before I was due to travel. But I suppose it’s just a learning experience, I came back and my Vuelta was my best race of the year. It shows maybe a having a break midseason isn’t the worst thing in the world. 

“It's nice to be getting higher in the results, but obviously the main thing is the winning the race for the team, which is always nice. So my main priority is always Ash [Moolman-Pasio] but yeah, it's nice, a little confidence boost that you're not going so badly that I can see my results.

“I feel definitely tactically I’m better, I still need to learn a lot, but then I'm starting to become more sure of myself, which is nice. But yeah, no matter how many years you race you're always gonna learn something new.

“And talking in interviews isn’t so hard anymore!”

Though it might be obvious for one so young, Shackley has matured in every way since joining SDWorx, and with her increased ability should come increased opportunity, and hers may well be a name on all British cycling fan’s lips in seasons to come.

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio won the mountain stage at the Tour of Romandie on Saturday, bagging the first WorldTour victory of her career.

In what was a surprise win, the 36-year-old South African out-classed Annemiek van Vleuten on the climb to the Thyon 2000 ski resort at the end of the Swiss race’s second stage.

The two women had been alone for the final 3.5km of the 104.5km stage which began in Sion, in the valley below the finish resort. Riding on her 40th birthday, Van Vleuten attacked repeatedly in characteristic style, but though the Movistar rider dropped everyone else, she could not shake Moolman-Pasio.

“I just had the focus that I’m not going to let the wheel go,” she told the post race press conference. “I’ve had a lot of bad luck this year and was looking for the opportunity to see where I stand, and as we went on and on and on I thought I had good legs.”

The moment she made the conclusive attack was redolent of a similar move during stage three of the Tour de France Femmes aves Zwift. There, with Van Vleuten clearly suffering on the hilly run into Epernay, the South African looked across into her rival’s eyes, saw weakness and attacked. On Saturday in Switzerland, as Van Vleuten realised her stinging moves were not enough to distance Moolman-Pasio the latter looked and saw the same thing.

“I did and it was really quite satisfying. Usually when she gets out of the saddle she just drops everyone, but this time she was out of her saddle and all over the bike, and I just stayed in the saddle riding next to her, I kept breathing down her neck, like saying ‘I’m right here, this isn’t that hard you know,’ and that was super satisfying. 

“Then at that one moment when she actually sat down and it was like ‘huh!’ I could feel ‘now I’ve really annoyed her and she’s got nothing left,’ and that was the moment.

That moment came with 2.5 of the 17.3km climb remaining, and over the ensuing minutes Moolman-Pasio managed to put 26 seconds seconds into the Dutchwoman, time bonuses meaning she will begin the third and final stage with an overall advantage of 30 seconds.

Not only was the victory one of personal fortitude and race craft, it was a triumph of strength in small numbers. SDWorx arrived at the season’s final WorldTour race with just four as opposed to the normal six riders. However, that quartet were among the the best climbers in the sport and set up the win with aplomb.

With a two woman breakaway up the road, the pressure came on the day’s second classified climb at Suen, 57km into the 104.5km stage. With the break caught and the bunch whittled down to 20, three women attacked, including Moolman-Pasio’s Swiss team mate Marlen Reusser.

“She really set things up because she put in a great attack before the last climb and that put the pressure on other teams to chase,” she explained. “Of course Annemiek had a team mate with Marlen, but she dropped back.”

While Moolman-Pasio is one of the sports preeminent climbers and has an enviable palmarès, Saturday was her first top tier victory, either WorldTour or World Cup. Early in her long career there were insufficient races that really suited her, and as mountains have become more prevalent she has been forced into the shadow of others. 

She has often played second fiddle to Van Vleuten, notably finishing a close second to the Dutch rider on Monte Zoncolan in the 2018 Giro Rosa. Then at last year’s Giro she finally won a mountain top finish, though the race had been relegated to ProSeries that year.

“This is my 13th season and finally at the end of the 2022 I get my first WorldTour victory,” she said with equal hints of bitterness, relief and joy.

At 147.6km, Sunday’s final stage between Fribourg and Geneva might be the race’s longest but it does not provide too many opportunities for anyone to overhaul Moolman-Pasio’s general classification lead.

“Of course we are very motivated to keep the leader’s jersey and to win the tour overall, it’s only one more day we are a very strong team, unfortunately a very small team, but already my team mates demonstrated how strong they are and I’m very happy to have them on my team tomorrow to help me win the jersey.”

If GC victory should come it will be a second WorldTour win in two days. You wait 13 year then two come along at once. 

Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe) put in a dominant time-trial performance to win stage five of the Tour de Romandie, securing overall victory in the process.

The Russian rider backed up yesterday's second-place finish, in which his teammate Sergio Higuita won the stage, with an impressive ride over the 15.84km mountainous time-trial course.

Vlasov completed the course in a time of 33 minutes and 40 seconds, handing him the lead of the race by 50 seconds to Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious).

Simon Geschke (Cofidis) surprised many by finishing second on the stage, 31 seconds down on Vlasov, and securing the final spot on the podium in the overall standings.

Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma), who led the race at the start of the day, struggled with the steep gradients of the time-trial course and finished two minutes and 12 seconds behind Vlasov, dropping to ninth on GC.

HOW IT HAPPENED

A 15.84km time-trial with over 800m of climbing was always destined to shake up the GC standings on the final stage of the Tour de Romandie.

Leaving the start ramp in Aigle, the home of the UCI, the riders had four kilometres of flat tarmac to begin the time-trial before the climbing started.

The 11.3km climb to the finish line in Villars had an average gradient of 7.4%, with some sections ramping up to 12.7%.

Given the mountainous parcour in Romandy, time-gaps on the line were vast, and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) was the early pacesetter, recording a time of 35 minutes and 28 seconds. 

The Spaniard moved into the hot seat after averaging 26.79km/h over the course.

Neither Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) or Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team), could trouble Izagirre’s time, both finishing over 50 seconds behind.

However, Izagirre’s time would eventually be beaten as the riders further up the standings left the start ramp.

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), fresh from his stage win at the Tour of the Alps, took the lead briefly after recording an impressive time of 34 minutes and 47 seconds.

Setting a scintillating time at the halfway checkpoint, Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) had the lead at the finish line for only a matter of moments before Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) swiftly edged the Dutchman out of top spot by less than a second.

Geschke was the first top-10 rider to show his intentions, with an impressive intermediate split.

The German continued his fine ride right to the line, recording a time of 34 minutes and 11 seconds, half a minute faster than Caruso.

Yet the Cofidis man was no match for Vlasov, the BORA-hansgrohe rider beating Geschke by 31 seconds in the end with a time of 33 minutes and 40 seconds.

Vlasov averaged a speed of 28.23km/h over the 15.84km course, with Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) unable to match the Russian’s powerful display on the climb to Villars.

Dennis was 28 seconds in arrears to Vlasov at the intermediate split and that gap only widened as the Jumbo-Visma leader reached the steepest ramps of the climb.

The Australian national time-trial champion eventually came in over two minutes down on the BORA-hansgrohe rider’s time – handing over the overall lead of the race as a result. 

Vlasov’s win caps the end of a successful week for his team, who come away from the Tour de Romandie with the GC win and two stage victories.

TOUR DE ROMANDIE 2022, STAGE FIVE: AIGLE TO VILLARS (15.84KM)

1. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) BORA-Hansgrohe, in 33-40
2. Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis, at 31 seconds
3. Gino Mäder (Sui) Bahrain-Victorious, at 36secs
4. Damian Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, at 1-04
5. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-05
6. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama FDJ, at 1-07
7. Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, at 1-25
8. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates, at same time
9. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-26
10. Ben O'Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team, at 1-40

FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) BORA-Hansgrohe, 18-00-59
2. Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorius, at 50secs
3. Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis, at 55secs
4. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-22
5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team, at 1-47
6. Damian Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, at 1-51
7. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-52
8. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-54
9. Luke Plapp (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at 2-08
10. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar Team, at 2-13

Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) outkicked a select group of climbers to win stage four of the Tour de Romandie. 

The Colombian was almost beaten by his team mate Alaksandr Vlasov on the line, but held on to secure his fourth win of the season. 

Jumbo Visma dominated the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie and their leader Rohan Dennis will take a 15 second lead into the final stage tomorrow.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

The queen stage of the Tour de Romandie packed a whopping 4100 metres of elevation into a 180km route which had five out of six of its climbs in the second half of the race. 

It took a while for the breakaway to form as a combination of flat valley roads and a tailwind allowed the peloton to set a ferocious average speed of 51kph over the first hour.

14 riders eventually escaped but the challenging parcours created a lead group made up of Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Harm Vanhouke (Lotto Soudal), Nils Bruns (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Óscar Rodríguez (Movistar), Toms Skujinš (Trek – Segafredo) and James Knox (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) the latter two in search of mountain points.

None of the riders were in a threatening position on GC apart from Quintan Hermans (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux) who started the day 37 seconds down, but he was stuck between the peloton and the break.

For the first half of the stage the yellow and black jerseys of Jumbo Visma hogged the front of the peloton as it snaked its way through the pine trees of the Swiss Alps.

Jumbo held the break at around three minutes but the gap began to fall once they hit the climb of Les Pontis for the second time in the rain. 

With race radio reporting sleet at the finish, some of the break riders went back to their team cars for coats, perhaps because they could see the peloton closing in several hairpins below. 

Ion Izagirre drove the pace in the break dropping Toms Skujinš and Harm Vanhouke in quick succession. 

However, Ineos Grandiers, Groupama-FDJ and Bahrain Victorius threw riders to the front of the peloton as they knew this was perhaps their last chance to unseat race leader Rohan Dennis (Jumbo Visma). 

The breakaway's gap stood at 1min40secs over the summit of Les Pontis, leaving just the category one climb of the Grimentz, and an uncategorised 4.5km climb, between them and the finish. 

Having already secured the mountains jersey, James Knox was dropped leaving just Ion Izagirre and Óscar Rodríguez up the road. 

Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citrëon Team), Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) and Sep Kuss (Jumbo Visma) splintered the peloton with powerful turns on the front, bringing the gap down to 26secs with 10km to go.

Just one kilometre later the break was caught. Einer Rubio (Movistar) launched an attack which whittled the peloton down to a select group of 23 riders, without Geraint Thomas (Ineos Granadiers). 

No one had the strength to attack off Steven Kruijswijk's (Jumbo Visma) pace as he held Rubio at around 12secs. 

Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) tried two attacks, but was hampered by a headwind and ended up dragging the bunch across to Rubio's wheel 300 metres from the line. 

Sergio Higuita, who had been quiet all day, launched a huge attack on the right of the road to go clear. 

His team mate Aleksandr Vlasov couldn't quite pip him on the line, raising his arms in celebration of the one-two instead. 

It was a good day for Jumbo Visma who consolidated their leader Rohan Dennis' grip on the race. With only a 15km time trial left to complete, Dennis will surely be fancied to take the overall win. 

RESULTS

1. Sergio Higuita (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 5-58-52
2. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe, all same time
3. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates
4. Ben O'Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroen Team
5. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama FDJ
6. Michael Woods (Can) Israel Premier Tech
7. Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorius
8. Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama FDJ
9. Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis
10. Carlos Verona (Esp) Movistar

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE FOUR

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo Visma, 17-27-01
2. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 15secs
3. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 18secs
4. Ben O'Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroen Team, at 25secs
5. Lucas Plapp (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at 30secs
6. Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorius, at 32secs
7. Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama FDJ, at 37secs
8. Neilson Powless (Usa) EF Education-EasyPost, at 41secs
9. Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis, at 42secs
10. Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 45secs

Patrick Bevin (Israel-Premier Tech) won stage three of the Tour de Romandie in a reduced bunch sprint in Valbroye. 

The New Zealander, who won the Tour of Turkey earlier this month, kicked ahead of Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) and Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) to claim his second stage win of the season. 

Dennis's third place on the day secured him four valuable bonus seconds on the line. The race leader will head into Saturday's queen stage with a 14-second advantage over Bevin, who rose to second on the general classification. 

How it happened

Stage three set off on a meandering 165.1km route over the hills of the Broye valley, south of Lake Neuchâtel. Scattered with six category three climbs, the undulating parcours offered a total of 2700m elevation for the riders as they headed out of, and ultimately back to, Valbroye.

The day’s racing got off to an electric start that saw multiple attacks to form a breakaway nullified by the peloton. Thomas Champion (Cofidis), the wearer of the light blue mountains classification jersey, tried twice to wriggle free but was reeled back in both times.

Eventually, after the first ascent of the 4.5km-long Dompierre, a trio containing Nans Peters (AG2R Citroën), Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) were able to break loose from the pack. The three riders clocked an average speed of over 45km/h in the first hour of racing, stretching out an advantage of almost five minutes. 

Neilands, it transpired, hadn’t only gone up the road for a nice day out. The former Latvian champion beat his breakaway companions over the first four summits to take the lead of the mountains classification.

In the pack, Jumbo-Visma set the tempo, exchanging turns with Ineos Grenadiers, who mixed their train amongst the yellow throng of the Dutch team. With 35km to go, the gap to the escapees was reduced to less than two minutes. The trio were caught as the race hit the foot of the day’s penultimate climb.

Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) led the group up the final ascent of Sédeilles, his team-mate and race leader Dennis nestled in behind him.

With 11km remaining, the attacks began. Carlos Verona (Movistar) sprung off the front, shaking off Filippo Colombo (Swiss Cycling) who tried to go with him. Before the Spaniard could reach the summit, he was caught by Gino Mäder (Bahrain-Victorious) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), and the bunch regrouped on the descent.

Back on the flat and with 3km to go, Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) tried his luck from long range. The Estonian was able to put daylight between himself and the peloton and rode solo under the flamme rouge, before he was caught by Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers), who chased in hot pursuit. 

Mauro Schmid (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) took the front as the race swung round one final right-hander, but with the finish line in sight, one rider got the jump on everyone. 

Coming from behind on the short drag to the line, Patrick Bevin opened up a powerful sprint to take the stage victory and ten bonus seconds. As a result, the Israel-Premier Tech rider jumped from seventh to second on the general classification ahead of Saturday's queen stage from Aigle to Zinal.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2022, stage three: Valbroye to Valbroye (165.1km)

1. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel-Premier Tech, in 4-53-27
2. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
3. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma
4. Dion Smith (Nzl) BikeExchange-Jayco
5. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
6. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious
7. Finn Fisher-Black (Nzl) UAE Team Emirates
8. Felix Grosßchartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
9. Nikias Arndt (Ger) DSM
10. Mikkel Honoré (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, all at s.t.

General classification after stage three

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma, in 12-28-06
2. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel-Premier Tech, at 14s
3. Felix Grosßchartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 18s
4. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 22s
5. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Victorious, at 22s
6. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 22s
7. Mikkel Honoré (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 22s
8. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates, at 25s
9. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 27s
10. Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates, at 28s

After crashing out of the leader's jersey on stage one, Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) sprinted to victory on stage two of the Tour de Romandie.

The 23-year-old opened his sprint with 200m to go, beating Jon Aberasturi (Trek-Segafredo) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) to the line in a narrow finale in Échellens. 

With this victory, Hayter added a second WorldTour win to his palmarès following his triumph in the race's opening time trial prologue. 

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), who was dealt a 20-second time penalty for an illegal bottle collection on stage one, dropped out of the top ten, while Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) maintained the lead of the race. 

How it happened

Stage two set out on a figure-of-eight loop around the canton of Vaud, starting and finishing in Échallens. The rolling 168.2km route counted just one categorised climb - the 6.7km-long third category ascent of La Praz - which fell in the middle of the stage.

As with stage one, a small breakaway formed immediately after the neutralised rollout. The four-man group was composed of Diego López (Equipo Kern Pharma), Nils Brun (Swiss Cycling), Baptiste Planckaert (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) and the Latvian road champion Toms Skujiņš (Trek-Segafredo). 

The first piece of drama came when news broke that Geraint Thomas, who started the day third in the general classification, had been issued a 20-second time penalty by the race jury. The Welshman was said to have taken a bottle with 19k to go in stage one, despite rules against feeding in the final 20km.

On the road, the first 110km of racing ticked by comfortably. Jumbo-Visma took command of the peloton while the breakaway ploughed ahead through the verdant Swiss countryside.  

A touching of wheels with 53km to go caused a small pile-up in the bunch, with one Lotto-Soudal rider sailing headfirst over his handlebars. Fortunately, there were no major casualties for those involved in the crash, save a few scraped elbows.

With 38km to go, the four-man breakaway halved as Planckaert and López sat up in their saddles. 18km later, the front group was no more. Skujiņš and Brun were absorbed by the bunch, and Ineos Grenadiers led the charge to the line.

The British team turned the screw on the front, stringing out the peloton in an attempt to shake off the sprinters before the finale. The pace set by Andrey Amador and Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) proved too much for Ethan Vernon (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), who was dropped with over 10km remaining.

Israel-Premier Tech guided the pack round the final left-hand turn and onto the finishing straight.

As the group passed under the flamme rouge, Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) pulled his team-mate Hayter through to the front, and the Brit launched a vicious sprint with 200m to go. Shushing his lips over the line, Hayter sent a message to those who doubted his positioning on stage one, and took his second victory at this edition of the Tour de Romandie. 

Abersaturi and Gaviria completed the podium for the stage, with Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) missing out on the bonus seconds in fourth place. 

Results

Tour de Romandie 2022, stage two: Échellens to Échellens (168.2km)

1. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, in 4-04-55
2. Jon Aberasturi (Esp) Trek-Segafredo
3. Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
6. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Intermarché-Want-Gobert Matériaux
7. Nikias Arndt (Ger) DSM
8. Ben O'Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën
9. Felix Grosßchartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
10. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, all at s.t.

General classification after stage two

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma, in 9-34-43
2. Felix Grosßchartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 14s
3. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 18s
4. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Victorious, at 18s
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 18s
6. Mikkel Honoré (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 18s
7. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel-Premier Tech, at 20s
8. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates, at 21s
9. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 23s
10. Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates, at 24s

Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious) won the first road stage of the Tour de Romandie in a punchy uphill finale. 

The Belgian rounded Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) on the line to take his second victory of the season after winning Flèche Wallonne last week. 

Dennis, who also finished second in Tuesday's prologue time trial, took a six-second time bonus on the line and moved into the leader's jersey previously held by Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), who crashed with 14km to go. 

How it happened

The second day of the Tour de Romandie offered a sawtooth stage profile, punctuated by sharp ascents. The 178km route headed south along the banks of Lake Neuchâtel before turning east to take on four category three climbs. A hilltop finish, tackled three times as part of a circuit, then awaited the peloton in the medieval city of Romont.

Local rider Valère Thiébaud (Swiss Cycling), the only person to crash in yesterday’s prologue, was determined to get into the breakaway at the start of the day. From the flag drop, he joined forces with Antoine Debons (Swiss Cycling), Julius Johansen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Thomas Champion (Cofidis) and Tim Naberman (DSM), who established an advantage of more than three minutes over the main bunch. 

Riding for the race leader Hayter, Ineos Grenadiers took charge of the peloton and kept the five escapees at an arm’s length. Hayter’s team-mates reduced the gap to two and a half minutes before the day’s second categorised climb.

Up ahead, Champion took maximum points over the first two climbs. The Frenchman placed second over the line on the third ascent, which was enough to secure him the light blue mountains classification jersey for stage two.

The pace in the peloton ramped up as the race entered the final 45km, and the front group’s advantage was sliced to less than a minute. Debons, sensing the breakaway’s demise was imminent, kicked down on the pedals, taking Champion up the road with him.

The Swiss rider’s efforts, however, were in vain. The duo were reeled in with 29km to go.

With 14km remaining, a crash wiped out the back half of the peloton. Hayter, who had spent most of the day sheltered behind the bunch, ended up lying in the grass at the side of the road. The Brit slowly rose to his feet, but by the time he remounted his bike, the race had disappeared into the distance.

Time trial specialist Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) tried his luck inside the final 6km and stretched out a small gap over the reduced peloton. Moments later, the French road champion was swallowed up as the pack reached the foot of the winding road up to Romont. 

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) was the first to attack on the climb – a 1.2km drag pitched at an average of seven per cent. Quick to react, Dennis stuck to the American's wheel and countered, distancing his rivals as he powered uphill.

As the Jumbo-Visma rider came over the brow of the climb, finish line in sight, he was helpless to the onrushing Teuns. The Belgian flew round his right shoulder to snatch glory on the line and claim his second victory in the space of a week. 

Results

Tour de Romandie 2022, stage one: La Grande Béroche to Romont (178km)

1. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Victorious, in 4-23-58
2. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma, s.t.
3. Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates, at 2s
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 2s
5. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, at 2s
6. Ben O'Connor (Aus) AG2R Citrëon, at 4s
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious
8. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates
9. Stess Cras (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
10. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, all at s.t.

General classification after stage one

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma, in 4-29-48
2. Felix Grosßchartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 16s
3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, s.t.
4. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Victorious, at 18s
5. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 20s
6. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 20s
7. Mikkel Honoré (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 20s
8. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel-Premier Tech, at 22s
9. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 23s
10. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates at 23s 

Ethan Hayter is confident of adding more wins to his palmarès at the Tour de Romandie, following his first WorldTour victory yesterday in the 5.12km time trial on the prologue of the Swiss stage-race. 

He will start stage one's 178km race from La Grande Béroche to Romont today (Wednesday) wearing the leader's green jersey thanks to his time trial performance. Hayter is optimistic this won't be the last of his or Ineos Grenadiers' success at the Tour de Romandie either, as he eyes more wins in Switzerland.

"I had a couple of setbacks at the start of the year, I've taken a break from racing and trained really hard and to come back like this is nice," Hayter said.

“The course suited me well. I thought, I'll give it a crack and it turned out well. The next few days are also good for me. I hope to win more stages and take the general classification with the team.

"G [Geraint Thomas] did a really good TT as well today and it's looking good for the week ahead. We’d like to win as many stages as possible this week as well as the GC, too."

The Ineos Grenadiers rider came in four seconds quicker than second-placed Rohan Dennis, and 10 seconds ahead of teammate Geraint Thomas. This didn't surprise Hayter though, with the 23-year-old suggesting he has the ability to produce strong performances regardless of the field of riders he is against.

"To be honest it's not that much of a surprise," he said. "I knew that I was capable of it on a good day. Last year I was top 10 in the Worlds, and top 10 in Paris-Nice. This is a bit of a step up but I knew that I would be close.”

The British time trial champion has endured a disrupted 2022, with Covid-19 limiting his pre-season training before he took a four-week break from racing over March and April. Missing the Spring Classics certainly isn't something Hayter wanted, but he is now hoping a strong showing in the Tour de Romandie victory will put him in contention to start his first Grand Tour this summer.

“I was never meant to do the Giro, but it kept coming up," he said. "I hope to do my first Grand Tour this year but I don’t know which one it will be yet."

Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) thundered to victory in the short but technical individual time trial prologue at the Tour de Romandie. 

The Brit held off the two-time world champion Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) by four seconds to claim his second victory of the season.

Geraint Thomas, Hayter's team-mate at Ineos Grenadiers, finished fourth on the stage, giving himself an early edge as he looks to retain his Tour de Romandie title. 

Hayter will wear the green leader’s jersey, sponsored by Swiss cheesemakers Le Maréchal, on stage one of the six-day race.

How it happened

The opening individual time trial offered a flat parcours fraught with technical obstacles. With a handful of tricky corners and two hairpin turns, the 5.1km route around the city of Lausanne promised risk taking from those hoping to place highly in the general classification.

By the time the first riders set off down the ramp, the morning's rain had dried out and the sun was beating down on the tarmac. Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), one of the early starters, set a strong time to beat of 6-05-96, averaging in excess of 50km/h.

The German didn’t lead the race for long before his time was bettered by Matteo Sobrero (BikeExchange-Jayco). Or so we thought. A closer look at the clock placed the Italian time trial champion in second by a fraction of a millisecond, and Schachmann kept his place in the hot seat.

Felix Grosßchartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), however, left no room for doubt. The Austrian glided through the course, taking three seconds off his teammate’s time and bringing the bar closer to the six-minute mark.

The first rider to clock under six minutes was Hayter. Adorned in the red, white and blue bands of the British national champion jersey, the Ineos Grenadiers rider forced a huge gear along the Lausanne airport runway, gasping for air as he drove down on the pedals. The Brit swung round the final right-hander and over the line to set a blistering time of 5-52-79. 

Rohan Dennis then rolled down the ramp in search of his first victory since joining Jumbo-Visma at the start of the year. The Australian time trial champion flew round the circuit, but fell four seconds short of Hayter’s time and was forced to settle for second.

In the battle for the general classification, it was last year's winner Geraint Thomas who took an early advantage over his rivals. The Welshman finished the prologue in fourth, nine seconds ahead of Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and over 10 seconds ahead of Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious). 

Results

Tour de Romandie 2022, prologue (ITT): Lausanne to Lausanne (5.1km)

1. Ethan Hayter (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, in 5-52-79
2. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma, at 4s
3. Félix Grosschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 10s
4. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 10s
5. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 13s
6. Matteo Sobrero (Ita) BikeExchange-Jayco, at 13s
7. Ethan Vernon (Gbr) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 14s
8. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-Easy Post
9. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl
10. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, all at s.t.

General classification after prologue

1. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, in 5-52-79
2. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma, at 4s
3. Félix Grosschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 10s
4. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 10s
5. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 13s
6. Matteo Sobrero (Ita) BikeExchange-Jayco, at 13s
7. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 14s
8. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-Easy Post
9. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl
10. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, all at s.t.

OLD BRITISH STALWARTS HOPING TO REDISCOVER FORM

Twelve months ago, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) appeared to be approaching somewhere near his Tour de France-winning form of old when he won the overall title at the Tour de Romandie. 

Since then, however, the Welshman’s results have regressed. His continued strong form following another promising podium finish at the Critérium du Dauphiné did not carry through into the Tour de France, where he crashed, and he has made a slow start to racing this season. 

>>> Chris Froome: Being competitive at Tour de France would be a 'dream scenario'

In defending his Tour de Romandie crown, he’ll have a chance to again bounce back. There were signs at Itzulia Basque Country that he was riding into some kind of form, as he placed fifth in the opening time trial and did sterling work for Dani Martínez as a domestique, and now he’ll lead Ineos Grenadiers in the absence of their other stage race stars.  

We might have a clearer picture of whether or not the 35-year-old is still capable of challenging for overall victories at the end of this week. 

Another former winner hoping to rediscover something like his old form is Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech), who won back-to-back titles during his heyday in 2013 and 2014. For Froome the prognosis appears more pessimistic, considering just how long it’s been since he’s ridden at a competitive level.  

But the 36-year-old has not given up on being able to ride the Tour de France this summer, and will be motivated to perform here to open up the possibility of doing so.

A PARCOURS FOR STRONG TIME TRIALLISTS

With UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers all sending under-strength line-ups, there’s a real opportunity for other, less-fancied GC riders to claim a WorldTour stage race title at the Tour de Romandie this week. 

In particular, those with a strong time trial must be getting especially excited, as there’s a total of 21km raced against the clock spread across two stages, a flat opening prologue in Lausanne, and a final stage split between a flat first half and uphill second. 

It’s a route that certainly suits Damiano Caruso, who recently won the overall title at the Tour of Sicily. Whereas other top teams look noticeably weaker than usual, Bahrain-Victorious have the likes of Jack Haig, Gino Mader and Dylan Teuns to support Caruso, so if he can gain an advantage in the time trials, he should be well looked after on the climbs. 

There’s also a chance for Ion Izagirre to achieve what would be a rare and hugely-appreciated WorldTour title for Cofidis. The Basque rider has a consistent record here, having placed in the top-10 on GC on four of his last five appearances, and could go better than his career-best finish of third considering the form he brings following a runner-up finish at Itzulia Basque Country.  

In the absence of Tadej Pogačar, Brandon McNulty is likely to lead the line for UAE Team Emirates. Young prodigy Juan Ayuso is another contender for the team, but McNulty’s proven time trialling prowess might make him the team’s chief protected rider. This could be a first-ever WorldTour stage race victory for the young American rider.   

And one outside bet to look out for is Rohan Dennis. Without his usual leaders Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard to work for, the Australian may have a rare chance of team leadership, and will surely be up there in the time trials. The big question is whether he can cling on the GC candidates on the climbs. 

HIGUITA AMONG CLIMBERS HOPING TO STAY IN GC CONTENTION

While the amount of time trialling will make it difficult for the pure climbers to stay in contention for overall victory, there are opportunities for them to make up enough time. 

In particular, stage four looks like a real brute, with five climbs in total classified as category one, including a mountain top finish at Zinal. The time gaps here ought to be big, and possibly enough for any climber who manages to limit their losses in the time trials to take overall victory. 

Following his overall victory at the Volta a Catalunya, Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) is arguably the most in-form climber at the race. Though the Colombian had to pull out of the following Itzulia Basque Country, he returned to racing on Sunday to place a very impressive fifth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the punchy attributes he demonstrated there might also bid him well should he try to gain time on some of the hilly stages either side of the key mountain top finish, especially stage three.  

Ben O’Conor (Agr2r Citroën) won a comparable mountain stage to Romandie’s queen stage at La Molina during the Volta a Catalunya, so should therefore also be a top contender, especially taking into account his win at the Tour de Jura Cyclist classic last week.  

Depending on how the race unfolds, UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma may switch strategies to rally around their more natural climbers, the former with Juan Ayuso, and the latter with Steven Kruijswijk, even if it has now been a long time since the Dutchman had his best climbing legs.   

EXPECT MORE DRAMA AS PINOT IS BACK RACING

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) is back, and with him the usual fanfare of drama and emotional roller-coasters that always seem to accompany him. 

His Tour of the Alps last week featured a vintage Pinot arc, beginning with the heartbreak of a near miss to Miguel Ángel López (Astana Qazaqstan), and ending in elation as he made up for that defeat a mere day later with a stage win. 

In many ways the Tour of the Alps outcome was the reverse of what normally happens with Pinot, as it involved a great comeback following a setback, rather than huge promise deflated by a collapse.  

The next step for Pinot, who is only just returning to his best following almost two years beset by injury, is to challenge for an overall title, which may be his ambition at the Tour de Romandie considering his very impressive condition during those final two days at the Tour of the Alps. 

This is a race he has usually excelled at, never finishing lower than 12th in any of his last five appearances here, and placing second behind Nairo Quintana the last time he rode here (albeit way back in 2016). 

If a sustained GC bid is beyond the Frenchman for now, then team-mate Michael Storer would likely make a very capable deputy for Groupama-FDJ, and has arguably earned the right to be the protected rider having finished second overall at the Tour of the Alps.  

PUNCHY BATTLES FOR STAGE WINS

As has been the case in recent editions of the Tour de Romandie, there really isn’t much on offer for the sprinters. Sandwiched between the two time trials and the queen stage are three rolling stages, of which only stage two looks like it could finish in a sprint, and even then only at a push. 

There is therefore a paucity of sprinters on the start list, although young Brit Ethan Vernon (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) is set to ride, and will therefore be a favourite to repeat his recent breakthrough success at the Volta a Catalunya, along with the more experienced sprinter Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates). 

Instead of the sprinters, it’s the puncheurs who should be the leading contenders for a haul of stage wins. The uphill finish at the climax of stage one in particular suits recent Flèche Wallonne winner Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious), March Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) - who’s coming into form again having made the top ten at Liege-Bastogne-Liege - and Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers). 

Those riders are likely also to be vying for the honours on the rolling stage three, which is pitched somewhere between a day for the puncheurs and for a GC contest. The likes of Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-EasyPost) could all come into their own here, and possibly also ride their way into GC contention.  

Thomas overcomes freak crash to take victory

Fairly or unfairly, Geraint Thomas has a reputation for crashing, often in bizarre ways, and the way he came a cropper in a two-man sprint with Michael Woods on stage four, when on the verge of taking the overall lead and perhaps even a stage victory, will not have helped him shed that reputation.

Thomas dismissed the incident with his customary good humour, describing himself as feeling “like a right whopper”, and ultimately it didn't matter as the Welshman comfortably ousted Woods from the top spot to claim overall victory, his first since the 2018 Tour de France.

That’s very good for Thomas as he builds his form towards the aim of reclaiming that Tour title this July, and he’s emerging as Ineos Grenadiers’ probable leader for that race.

Ineos Grenadiers will also be pleased with their performance as a team. Richie Porte managed to accompany Thomas for most of the key mountain top finish on stage four, and time trialed well in the final stage to catapult himself up to second overall. And Rohan Dennis won the prologue with a blistering ride (with Thomas and Porte finishing second and third to seal a clean sweep), and he might have held onto the overall lead for longer were it not for a crash on stage three.

It wasn’t quite the untouchable, all-conquering performance at Volta a Catalunya to win all three spots on the podium, and they did not quite control the queen stage as well as they might have hoped, but they were nevertheless easily the best team at the race, and look well on track for the Tour in a couple of months' time.

Woods a nearly man again

Bringing the excellent form he’d shown at the Ardennes Classics, Michael Woods (Israel StartUp Nation) was one of the most impressive riders this week in Romandie, winning the queen stage after climbing away from everyone bar Geraint Thomas on the final climb.

However, much like at the Ardennes Classics, where fourth at Flèche Wallonne and fifth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège didn’t quite reflect how strong he looked, the Canadian couldn’t quite follow through and seal overall victory, losing the yellow jersey on the final stage following a disappointing time trial, slipping to fifth overall.

For Woods, this was a familiar story of great promise ending in a near miss. He also lost the overall lead at last year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, and has a palmarès full of high finishes at the very biggest Classics (including bronze at the 2018 Worlds and a runner-up finish at Liège-Bastogne-Liège that year), but still no wins in a WorldTour one-day race.

On the plus side, his ride up Thyon 2000 to claim victory on stage four was arguably the best of his career, and, despite being 34, he’s showing some of the best form of his late-blooming career. If he keeps riding like this, the big wins will come.

Soler proves a point with stage win and high finish

Marc Soler’s celebration upon winning stage three was that of a man who felt he had a point to prove. Upon crossing the finish line, having successfully broken away from the group of favourites on the final climb of the stage, the Spaniard put a finger to his lips.

It was a gesture presumably directed towards critics of his recent performances, which up until now had been underwhelming. Although he did well in his first appearance of 2021 to finish eleventh overall at a tough Tirreno-Adriatico, he struggled at Volta a Catalunya, and was unable to offer leader Alejandro Valverde much help.

Such performances had reinforced the notion that Soler (who turned 27 last November) hasn’t quite developed into the star we expected him to be since winning the Tour de l’Avenir in 2015 and Paris-Nice in 2018. Since then he has made more headlines for in-race fall-outs with the Movistar management and apparent disharmony behind the scenes than for his results.

But his stage win this week was a reminder of the talent he has, as well as another example of the refreshing eagerness to attack that has characterised his performances even when things aren’t going well for him.

Despite battling hard on the mountain top finish following his stage win, Soler was unable to hold onto the yellow jersey, settling instead for a fourth-place finish on GC. But the signs are that he’s going well ahead of the Giro d’Italia, where he’ll enjoy a rare chance to lead Movistar at a Grand Tour. He’ll be eager to prove yet another point.

Sagan and Colbrelli win a stage each despite tough parcours for sprinters

Without a single purely flat stage, the sprinters were made to work for their success this week, but both Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) dug in deep over the climbs to claim a stage win each.

Both sprinters were among those still present after half the peloton had been distanced during a hilly opening road stage, with Sagan edging Colbrelli in the sprint. The following stage was even more selective, and Sagan was dropped early on the final climb of the day, but Colbrelli again made the cut, and this time won the sprint from a leading group that had been reduced to just 36 riders.

Both also impressed on stage three to make the selection, but this time a successful Marc Soler attack meant they were only sprinting for a second-place finish, which was, in any case, won by Magnus Cort (EF Education-Nippo).

For Sagan, his rides are an encouraging sign that he’s set for a good Giro d’Italia. The parcours for that race look very difficult this year, with many stages earmarked for the sprinters featuring potentially tricky climbs, so his climbing form may keep him in contention on days where other sprinters are dropped.

Colbrelli won’t be riding the Giro (he’s having some downtime having ridden a full Classics program this spring), so will be delighted with his success as an end in itself. He has been a dependable and versatile rider for many years now but does not win as much as you might expect — his stage win this week was his first since last August, and his first at WorldTour level since the 2018 Tour de Suisse.

Ganna loses time trial supremacy

When Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) lost to Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) at the Tirreno-Adriatico time trial in March, it looked like it would be a mere blip. After all, the Italian had previously been on a stunning eight-race winning streak in time trials stretching all the way back to August 2020, and looked practically untouchable in the discipline.

However, Ganna lost not one but two time trials at the Tour de Romandie, and was considerably off the pace in both. First in the prologue, three of his Ineos Grenadiers team-mates finished ahead of him to claim the podium spots while he languished behind in ninth; and on the final, longer time trial, he fared worse still, this time only just making the top ten.

His sudden fallibility will come as a welcome relief to his rivals, who have spent almost a year in his shadow. Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) capitalised on the final stage, at last claiming his first win of the season having already finished runner-up in two WorldTour time trials, while 22-year-old Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) continues to look like the next big thing in time trialing with a second-place finish behind Cavagna.

Ineos Grenadiers did at least manage to keep success in-house in the prologue, with Rohan Dennis taking the win. Following his similarly crushing win at Volta a Catalunya earlier this season, and as a former two-time World champion, Dennis looks like he will be the man most capable of claiming Ganna’s crown at the Worlds later this year.

Chris Froome says he battled through chest problems at the Tour de Romandie as he continues working towards regaining his previous form.

The four-time Tour de France champion was nearly part of the winning team with Michael Woods, the Israel Start-Up Nation rider having won stage four after Geraint Thomas' slip before shipping time to the Ineos rider in the final stage five time trial.

“It’s been a good block of racing just to get the intensity in the legs. It’s amazing to have the stage win yesterday with Woodsy. It’s been good fun racing with him this week," Chris Froome told CyclingPro after the time trial.

"It’s been a tough week of racing. The weather has been pretty rough and for me personally I’m starting to feel a little chesty these last few days. Today was just about finishing the race off and looking ahead."

>>> ‘It’s not like I haven’t performed since I won the Tour,’ says Geraint Thomas, who reaffirms his form with Romandie win

Froome finished 96th overall, just over an hour behind Thomas. In the final time trial he finished 3-23 behind stage winner Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), losing more than 12 seconds a kilometre over the 16km course.

Now, he will head to altitude to continue training and hopefully improving, before racing the Critérium du Dauphiné ahead of his return to the Tour de France this summer.

"I’m glad I got this racing in, there’s still a lot of work to do. I’m going to be going up to altitude after this then hopefully onto the Dauphiné," Froome continued.

"I’m just hoping to progress, and obviously looking to get back to my former level. I can’t say when that’s going to be. It’s a process, it’s a long process. I’m going to keep working as hard as I can and hopefully get there."

Geraint Thomas says it feels good to finally break his winning duck, taking his first victory since the 2018 Tour de France with the overall title at the 2021 Tour de Romandie.

The Welshman said he was initially angry after his slip at the end of stage four gifted Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) the race lead and stage win, but his superior time trial performance on the final stage five ensured he'd be on the podium in the yellow jersey.

"I'm very happy, especially after the little mishap yesterday, which wasn't ideal. Definitely made it more of a challenge today," Geraint Thomas said after the stage.

"I felt good. It kind of reminded me of when I won the Tour back in Espelette [stage 20 time trial], it was a similar sort of stage, the last TT was kind of like this, and the last descent the team were just telling me to take it easy, just don't do anything stupid, don't crash on the corners.

"And obviously you overthink it a little bit then...but no I'm really happy to finish it off. It's been a great week with the team."

>>> Movistar’s Davide Villella fined €180 for crossing finish line twice at Tour de Romandie

Thomas was level-pegging with stage five winner Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) at the intermediate time check, but eased off in order to not risk the overall victory, finishing third on the stage, 17 seconds off the French national time trial champion's fastest time.

"It was all about trying to take the jersey and get around safely," Thomas explained. "Obviously I'd have loved to go for the stage but that last descent was a bit wet so it was just taking it steady and finish the stage rather than risk it all."

While Thomas is glad to have won Romandie, it's all about this summer's Tour de France for the Ineos rider, where he will try and double up on his 2018 yellow jersey. Nevertheless, he's happy that he's come into form two months before the Grand Départ.

"I knew I was going well, I've done a lot of hard work, spent a lot of time away from the family so I wanted to make it worthwhile and I've certainly done that," Thomas said.

"At the start of the year I said my goal was the Tour and every race was a build-up to it, didn't really put any pressure on myself to perform early, but it seems we've come into some good shape pretty soon and we've had a lot of good races building up.

"Obviously Catalunya was really good for the team, I was third there behind two team-mates so I knew I was going well. Myself and Richie [Porte] came here knowing we wanted to win with one of us, and with first and second you can't complain."

Thomas doesn't see this first victory since that 2018 Tour campaign as any sort of rejuvenation, however, providing the reminder that he has been on the podium at significant races since that victory three years ago.

"It's not like I haven't performed since I won the Tour," Thomas added. "I was second in the Tour [2019], second in Tirreno-Adriatico [2020], third at Catalunya [2020], I've been up there. But it's nice to finally get the win, break that sort of duck."

Relaxed after taking the win, Thomas said he was initially angry following his stage four crash, but the affable Welshman admitted that in those situations it's better to laugh than cry.

"I definitely wasn't laughing the first hour or two [after the stage], I was pretty angry," Thomas admitted. "But once you've settled in you've just got to laugh or cry, and it's a lot better to laugh.

"It was really unfortunate, as I went to change gear I could feel I wasn't gripping the bars properly and as soon as I got out of the saddle hand came off and I was on the deck. You've just got to laugh haven't you."

Geraint Thomas secured the overall victory at the Tour de Romandie with a time trial performance good enough to easily usurp Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation).

The Ineos Grenadiers' rider already had half a minute on the Canadian at the intermediate time check on the 16km-long course, fulfilling Woods' prediction that he had little chance to take what would have been a first stage race victory of his career.

Instead, it was Thomas who took his first victory since the 2018 Tour de France, a yellow jersey that hints the Welshman is back on track ahead of his return to the French Grand Tour this summer.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step's Remi Cavagna took the stage five win, while EF-Nippo's Stefan Bissegger took second, six seconds down. Thomas was third on the stage, 17 seconds adrift, but nearly a minute ahead of Woods' time.

There were also top 10 performances for three other Ineos riders, Richie Porte's fifth place enough to boost him up to second on GC, while Rohan Dennis and Filippo Ganna closed out the top 10.

How it happened

EF-Nippo's Stefan Bissegger was the first to give us a barometer to measure everyone else against, stopping the clock at 22 minutes after 16.19km, beating the previous best time of Ian Garrison (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) by nearly a minute.

Soon Ineos Grenadier's Filippo Ganna had started, and he was 12 seconds down on Bissegger at the time check, not improving over the second half as he finished half a minute down on Bissegger, showing just how good of a time the Swiss rider had set.

Bahrain-Victorious' Jan Tratnik then quietly set the third-best time of the day so far, soon pipped by Ineos' Andrey Amador, before Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) then began his effort.

The French national time trial champion was going well, 17 seconds faster than Bissegger at the time check, then being the first to break the 22-minute barrier, setting the new fastest time at 21-54, holding on after fading over the latter half of the course.

Rain then began to fall, putting a spanner in the works for those riders still to come.

Groupama-FDJ's Stefan Küng then came through the time check 22 seconds down on Cavagna, the rain getting harder now, eventually crossing the line 50 seconds down on Cavagna.

Movistar's Miguel Ángel López then set the fourth-fastest time at the intermediate sprint, an encouraging start for the Colombian and a surprise given that his new team aren't known for their prowess against the clock, but the 27-year-old faded and finished outside the top 10.

Rohan Dennis was now out on the course, the Ineos man dealing with the rain that seemed to only be affecting a specific section.

UAE Team Emirates' Rui Costa was then cheered up the cobbled climb by fans waving Portuguese flags, 12 per cent of Switzerland's foreign population being made up of his compatriots.

Magnus Cort then pulled off an impressive time, nestling himself inside the provisional top 10 despite his breakaway heroics yesterday, while Dennis soon crossed the line more than half a minute down on Cavagna, disappointing from the Australian.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step had certainly had their Weetabix this morning as Mattia Cattaneo stopped the clock with a time faster than both Ganna and Dennis, while both Marc Soler and Richie Porte set off, the upper echelons of the GC now making their way into the start hut.

Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) soon set the fourth-fastest time at the intermediate check, Porte following through soon after and only six seconds down on Cavagna, Soler 22 seconds in arrears to the hot seat.

Ben O'Connor, Geraint Thomas and Michael Woods, the top three on GC, were now out on the course, and Thomas was quicker than Cavagna at the time check.

Masnada gave it everything as he sprinted for the line, coming in only around 20 seconds adrift of his team-mates current best time, and into provisional fourth.

Porte was next across the line, slightly quicker than Masnada, 19 seconds behind Cavagna's time, while Michael Woods' prediction that he'd struggle in the time trial wasn't a lie, more than 30 seconds down on Thomas at the checkpoint.

Soler followed, he'd not done enough to keep his fourth place from Porte, but had put in a respectable enough effort, inside the top 10.

Thomas then came across the line 17 seconds down on Cavagna, having not wanted to risk his overall title in a gut-busting effort in search of the stage win, and Woods was way off the pace when he eventually crossed the line, 1-11 slower than Cavagna, ceding the yellow jersey to the Welshman.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2021, stage five: Fribourg to Fribourg - ITT (16.19km)

1. Remi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 21-54

2. Stefan Bissegger (Sui) EF Education - Nippo, at six seconds

3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 17s

4. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM, at 18s

5. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at 20s

6. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 21s

7. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 29s

8. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, at 34s

9. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at 35s

10. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, at 37s

Final general classification

1. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, in 17-59-57

2. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at 28 seconds

3. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 38s

4. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, at 39s

5. Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 43s

6. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Ag2r Citroën, at 45s

7. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Astana - Premier Tech, at 1-08

8. Lucas Hamilton (Aus) BikeExchange, at 1-22

9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, at 1-30

10. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 2-20

The UCI has caught a lot of flak recently over its rules, from trying to ban celebration hugs during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe to new regulations which sees riders disqualified for discarding a bidon in the wrong area and for reiterations of the supertuck position.

Movistar's Davide Villella, though, may have received a fine for the most egregious and audacious (at least in the eyes of the UCI) rule-breaking yet.

At the end of stage three of the Tour de Romandie, the race jury's communique, which lists all of the day's results as well as fines, had a 200 Swiss francs fine apportioned to Villella for crossing the finish line twice while still wearing his race numbers and/or frame number plate.

This is in accordance with point 1.6 of article 2.12.007 (catchy) of the UCI's rules governing road racing, specifying the infringement as: "Recrossing the finish line in the direction of the race while still displaying body number or frame number."

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For WorldTour, World Championship or Olympic events, the fine is CHF 200, or around €180, while women's WorldTour, or Continental Championships and ProSeries events only sting you CHF 100 for the same indiscretion. The violation at national and junior events, as well as Class 2 events for men and women, only costs CHF 50.

The reasons why Villella crossed back over the finish line in the direction of the race are not known. On stage three he had finished 35th, only 1-21 down on stage winner and team-mate Marc Soler.

Hopefully, this incident stars in the next instalment of the Movistar Netflix documentary series. The borderline-terrifying Pablo Lastras (at least, that's how he came across in the doc) banging on the door of the commissaires office at the end of the stage before chucking each individual coin of the fine at them, yelling at the UCI to enjoy the extra bottle of wine they can now afford at dinner that evening...

Villella has had an eventful Romandie, getting himself up the road in the day's breakaway on stage two. The 29-year-old will feature in the Spanish squad's Giro d'Italia line-up, headlined by Soler.

Geraint Thomas has said a lack of feeling in his hands caused his crash on stage four of the Tour de Romandie.

Having distanced the rest of the field alongside Canadian Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), the two riders began to contest the uphill sprint finish for the stage win, and even if beaten Thomas would have assumed the race lead if he'd crossed the finish line alongside Woods.

Disaster struck, however, with Thomas hitting the deck as he began to sprint for the line, gingerly getting back to his feet before eventually taking third place, overtaken by Ben O'Connor (Ag2r Citroën), coming across the line 21 seconds behind Woods.

"I had no feeling in my hands due to the cold and tried to shift gears, but lost control of my handlebars," Thomas told CyclingPro after the stage. Miserable conditions had plagued the peloton all day, the stage having even been moved forward two hours to avoid forecasted snow.

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Thomas had started the day 14 seconds in arrears to Marc Soler, but when the Movistar rider started going backwards on the final climb to the summit finish, the race lead looked to be falling into the hands of the Welshman.

Instead, he remains second, 11 seconds behind Woods, but has a good chance of overtaking him in the final 16km-long time trial stage tomorrow.

"I'm fine but I am emotional," Thomas continued. "It is very frustrating to lose time this way after such a hard day. Luckily I still have something to drive for tomorrow, but today I really wanted to win. Then it is unfortunate that this happens."

Had Thomas won the stage, it would have been his first victory since his win on Alpe d'Huez at the 2018 Tour de France.

"I don't know yet what the difference is with Woods, but I'm going to try to make up for the difference. Now I'm going to take a shower first and get fed. Then there is time to look at tomorrow."

Geraint Thomas crashed in the finale of stage four of the Tour de Romandie, forfeiting the chance of a first win since Alpe d'Huez at the 2018 Tour de France as well as the race lead.

Michael Woods instead took the stage victory in the uphill sprint for the line, Ag2r's Ben O'Connor then second, 17 seconds behind the Canadian, while Thomas picked himself up and crossed the line in third, 21 seconds down.

Movistar's Marc Soler tumbled out of the race lead on the climb to the summit finish, with Woods assuming the race lead, Thomas now 11 seconds behind heading into tomorrow's final time trial.

Ghastly conditions plagued the race once again on stage four, the start pushed forward two hours to avoid the forecasted snow, before the first 3km of the descent of the Suen was neutralised mid-race due to the wet roads and poor visibility.

As time gaps were supposedly frozen as race cars shepherded the breakaway and bunch down the climb, it came as a surprise when the escapees had pushed their three-and-a-half-minute gap out another minute or so when racing resumed.

Regardless, Magnus Cort's bid for stage glory and the race lead came apart on the summit finish climb, Michael Woods attacking from the peloton in the final kilometres and bridging up and past the Dane, followed by Thomas, as Soler was left shivering and unable to follow, having spent his final reserves of energy a few moments before as he accelerated, shedding riders from the group but not quite unhitching himself.

Thomas and Woods powered away, the Ineos rider often ramping up the pace as they raced towards the finish, before the Canadian had a little dig as the line came into view. The sprint then started to unfurl. Tired, cold legs gave all they had left before Thomas slipped, crashing to the floor as Woods sailed across the line.

The Welshman picked himself up gingerly, he'd have had the race lead even if he'd finished second on the same time as Woods, but now that opportunity was gone. The final 16km TT tomorrow should give him a decent chance to wrench back the race lead from the Israel Start-Up Nation rider.

How it happened

The penultimate stage would prove a firm test to Marc Soler's hold on the leader's jersey, with the Thyon summit finish being up at 2,000m.

Soon after the flag drop a move of seven went away, but not before Joel Suter (Switzerland) added to his lead in the KOM competition over the first categorised climb of the day, the escape group including Lotto-Soudal's Matt Holmes and Kobe Goossens, Magnus Cort (EF-Nippo), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel Start-Up Nation), Josef Cerny (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), and, of course, Simon Pellaud (Switzerland).

Next up was the first of three category one climbs, the Anzère, 12km-long and the break taking an advantage of six minutes as they started the ascent.

Pellaud was the first over this summit, defending his team-mates lead in the classification before the break began a descent lacking both visibility and dry roads.

Onto the next Lenz climb and 30 seconds had been lopped off the break's gap, Movistar patrolling the front of the bunch, Pellaud again first to the summit, and after the peloton had also finished the climb Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) and Gorka Izagirre (Astana - Premier Tech) were involved in a crash but were soon back up on their bikes.

Onto the 40km flat transfer back through the start town for a loop before the mountainous finale, the rain wasn't abating and Ineos were lurking ominously behind the Movistar train, Geraint Thomas only 14 seconds off the overall lead at the start of the day.

Magnus Cort took the intermediate sprint, the Dane the virtual leader on the road, only 59 seconds behind Soler.

At the start of the penultimate Suen climb, 13.7km in length with an average gradient of 6.7 per cent, the escapees still had six minutes over the bunch, with 55km to the finish line.

Bizzarely, the Swiss national team then started riding on the front despite their rider Simon Pellaud having set up his usual shop off the front in the breakaway, Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) soon spotted going backwards yet again.

Mads Wurtz Schmidt was then soon dropped from the escapees with 50km remaining, as Holmes set the pace up the climb in aid of team-mate Goossens, the gap now at five and a half minutes.

Suter was soon also distanced in the peloton, making Switzerland's tactics even more perplexing, the national team soon dropping from the front and Movistar reassuming their position, the bunch really thinning out now.

Word then came through that the first 3km of the descent of the Suen, the steepest part, would be neutralised due to the wet roads and poor visibility.

Over the top of the climb and the breakaway's advantage was around 3-45, Goossens pipping Pellaud to maximum KOM points and taking the lead in that classification.

Although the time gaps were supposedly frozen for the neutralised descent, the breakaway had taken 45 seconds back off the peloton as racing got underway once more.

Cort and Cerny then tried to jump away from their breakaway companions, but only momentarily, as Schmidt found himself being reeled back in by the bunch.

Cort then took another three bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint, towards the end of the flat section, his deficit to Soler now only 53 seconds, and the gap now above five minutes.

With 25km remaining Movistar were still directing the peloton, although the gap wasn't budging for the moment as the break started the final climb to the summit finish.

Thyon 2000 was 20.7km long with an average gradient of 7.6 per cent. Holmes was soon dropped, paying for his efforts earlier in the day, before Cerny also followed suit.

As the gap crept out to six minutes, Owain Doull took over on the front for Ineos Grenadiers. Cort and Pelitti then decided to dispense with Goossens and Pellaud, setting off alone as the visibility began to reduce once more.

Soler still had Villella, Cataldo and Miguel Ángel López for company as only around 30 riders remained in the reduced peloton. Under 15km to go and the gap was now five and a half minutes to the front of the race.

Ineos then took it up once more, Eddie Dunbar leading with Rohan Dennis slotted in behind, taking half a minute off the gap.

11km to the summit, Cort and Pelitti now 4-30 ahead, Pellaud trying to chase back, a minute and half behind in no man's land for the timebeing.

Cort soon dropped his final breakaway companion as it ticked under 10km to go, the Dane going off in search of the stage win and race lead, with 8.5km to go the gap was now 3-45.

Michael Woods went for a bit of off-roading, not as part of the latest EF Gone Racing installment, but just losing control for a brief moment as he took his rain jacket off, quickly regaining contact with the tarmac.

As Cort's advantage began to thin, Marc Soler went off the front with 6.6km to go, looking to protect his yellow jersey, riding away from the Ineos train. The Spaniard couldn't get away but had shaken things up.

Richie Porte had now been dropped, third overall at the start of the day, Dennis leading the much-reduced peloton now, who soon caught Pellaud.

Inside the final 5km, Cort only three minutes ahead now, and BikeExchange's Lucas Hamilton attacked, the Aussie only 35 seconds in arrears of the GC lead.

The time gaps then disappeared from the live coverage, given the visibility it was a minor miracle live race pictures had stayed intact up to this point.

Michael Woods was the next to test his legs, going off the front, Sepp Kuss found going backwards, as riders tried to get on Woods' wheel.

Cort took on a gel with 4km to go, holding out the wrapper while the moto took an age to take it from his hand, the EF-Nippo rider clearly starting to hurt.

Obscured in the limited view of the road, Pelitti had been lurking just behind Cort, overtaking the Dane, but then TV cameras snapped to Michael Woods who had bridged the gap first to Cort and then on to Pelitti's wheel, soon dropping him too.

Woods was only 30 seconds behind Soler, in the GC and with 10 seconds for the first across the line it was going to be close.

But then with 3km to go, Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos) clipped off the front of the GC group.

Thomas soon left Masnada and Ben O'Connor behind, though, going off in search of Woods, who could just be spotted ahead in the distance.

With little over 2km to go, Thomas had joined Woods. Behind, Soler was losing touch with Izagirre, as the rest of the GC group splintered up the final section of the ascent.

Under the flamme rouge and Thomas and Woods had 50 seconds over Soler, the Spaniard out of the running for the GC now.

Woods put in a little dig in the lead up to the sprint for the line, Thomas matching him for now, but the Welshman came tumbling down in a bizarre-looking crash, leaving Woods to comfortably take both the stage win and race lead.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2021, stage four: Sion to Thyon 2000 (161.3km)

1. Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation, in 4-58-35

2. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Ag2r Citroën, at 17 seconds

3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 21s

4. Lucas Hamilton (Aus) BikeExchange, at 34s

5. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 37s

6. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at 42s

7. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Astana - Premier Tech, at same time

8. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, at 52s

9. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, at 53s

10. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM, at 1-57

General classification after stage four

1. Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation, in 17-37-35

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 11 seconds

3. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Ag2r Citroën, at 21s

4. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, at 33s

5. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at 36s

6. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 45s

7. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Astana - Premier Tech, at 48s

8. Lucas Hamilton (Aus) BikeExchange, at 49s

9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, at 1-04

10. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-58

Two crashes marred the closing kilometres of stage three of the Tour de Romandie, as Stefan Küng's breakaway dreams were brought crashing down to Earth on a slippery descent into the finish, before Rohan Dennis also fell, his GC lead evaporating in the dour conditions.

The Groupama-FDJ rider had made the day's breakaway, braving the pouring rain to get up the road, before accelerating at the foot of the penultimate climb, dragging only Lotto-Soudal's Kobe Goossens with him as the peloton loomed only half a minute behind.

On the resulting descent with under 15km to go until the line, Küng started backing off slightly, a small gap beginning to open up between him and the Belgian, before the Swiss rider made the cardinal sin of crossing a white road marking in the rain, the time trial specialist then coming down heavily on the bend.

The wet surface ensured he slid into a grassy bank at the side of the road, skimming up over it and landing with a thud.

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Thankfully, Küng seemed alright, rushing back to his bike, but his hopes of a stage victory lying in tatters.

Goossens was soon on the final climb of the day on his own and was brought back into the fold after the attacks in the peloton from the likes of Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), Ion Izagirre (Astana - Premier Tech) and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma).

Soon, word came through that race leader Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers) had also fallen, the crash not caught on camera, but the rider suffering a large grave to his upper leg.

Marc Soler then attacked, solo-ing away from the group to take the stage win by 22 seconds, assuming the race lead from Dennis, the Movistar man now holding a 14-second lead over the Australian's team-mate Geraint Thomas.

Marc Soler emerged victorious in treacherously wet conditions on stage three of the Tour de Romandie, after race leader Rohan Dennis crashed in the final.

Soler (Movistar) launched a decisive attack on the final climb less than 10km from the finish and descended to victory as rain battered the peloton in Switzerland.

Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers) was involved in an off-camera crash in the final kilometres of the stage, losing contact with the peloton and conceding the race lead to Soler.

Soler now leads the overall ahead of Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte in second and third respectively.

How it happened

Stage three of the Tour de Romandie 2021 looked to be the first potential shake-up on the general classification after the previous two sprint stages. 

The 168km course took riders on a tough tour around Estavayer in the western region of Switzerland, not far from Bern. 

Riders set off from Estavayer and faced a lumpy opening section, featuring one categorised climb, before returning to the start line to begin the first of two 45km local laps.

The laps feature two categorised climbs, both third category, as the peloton took on the 1.8km-long Châbles ascent followed immediately by the 2.5km-long, 7.7 average gradient of Les Granges. Following the crest of the climb, riders then took on a 9km descent to the finish.

Early in the stage, attacks came rapid fire as riders attempted to set up the day’s breakaway, with seven riders making their move stick and pulling out a gap on the peloton after 40km. 

That group featured the likes of Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo), Kobe Goossens (Lotto-Soudal) and Britain’s Charlie Quarterman, with the group extending its advantage out to almost four minutes with 100km left to race.

It was a treacherous day on the roads of Switzerland, as the rain fell hard all day and made the roads slick, particularly on the technical descents from the two climbs on the finishing circuit. 

Ineos Grenadiers controlled the pace for much of the day back in the peloton, while keeping their GC leaders safe.

Into the final 50km and the breakaway began to collapse in the tough conditions, with Quarterman amongst those dropped, leaving just four riders out front into the key sections of the race. 

With 16km left to race, Küng and Goossens launched their attack on the Châbles climb and pulled clear of the rest of the break, but their move was short-lived as Küng suffered a horrific crash on the descent, losing traction in the wet on a turn and going down at high speed.

Fortunately Küng didn’t suffer any serious injuries and jumped back on his bike, but he was soon swept up by the peloton, with Goossens eventually being caught 9km from the line as the breakaway was done for the day.  

TV pictures then picked up images of race leader Rohan Dennis, who went down off-camera but was able to get back on his bike, then forced to try and catch the peloton to hold onto his race lead. 

Near the summit of the final climb the attacks came from the peloton, with Marc Soler launching clear and Ion Izagirre (Astana-Premier Tech) also firing an attack and attempting to chase.

With just the descent from Les Granges left to navigate, Soler led with a 21-second advantage over Izagirre, with the peloton 33 seconds behind the lone leader.

Despite the chasing effort from Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte, trying to minimise their losses in the overall, Soler rode to a convincing solo victory with a 22-second advantage over his nearest rivals. 

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Thomas and Porte finished in the second group on the road, holding onto their overall podiums, while Dennis finished 1-21 down on the winner and lost the leader’s jersey to Soler. 

Soler now leads by 14 seconds over Thomas and Porte heading into stage four, the first summit finish of the race.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2021, stage three: Estavayer to Estavayer (168.7km)

1. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, in 2-58-35

2. Magnus Cort (Den) EF Education-Nippo, at 22s

3. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

4. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious

5. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Astana-Premier Tech

6. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

7. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM

8. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma

9. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Astana-Premier Tech

10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time

General classification after stage three

1. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, in 12-38-40

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 14s

3. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers

4. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, all at same time

5. Marc Hirschi (Sui) UAE Team Emirates, at 16s

6. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 20s

7. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 21s

8. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM

9. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma, all at same time

10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 24s

Chris Froome says his recovery is taking longer than expected but added he is still determined to get back to his best.

The Israel Start-Up Nation rider, winner of seven Grand Tours, is still struggling with the after effects of a career threatening crash he suffered in the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné, as he tries to return to race-winning form. 

Froome, 35, says he wants to look back in a few years and know that he tried everything he could to make a full recovery from the horrific crash. 

In an interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the four-time Tour de France winner said: "I still feel the hunger to race and do everything I can to get back to my best, 

“It's taking longer than I expected, but I don't want to miss the chance. In a few years I want to look back and tell myself that I've tried everything.”

Froome crashed during a recon of the time trial stage of the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné, when he lost control of his TT bike while wiping his nose and hit a low wall at more than 50km/h. 

The Brit suffered multiple serious injuries, including a broken femur and broken elbow, and needed immediate maw surgery. 

Froome returned to the peloton in early 2020 with Ineos Grenadiers and was able to finish the Vuelta a España that year.

He has since changed teams, joining Israel Start-Up Nation with the intention of competing for the overall at the 2021 Tour de France.

Froome spent the winner in California working with experts from the Red Bull High Performance Centre, trying to correct the power discrepancy between his legs with off-the-bike strength work.  

But Froome, currently racing the Tour de Romandie, has yet to show signs of race-winning form, currently sitting 63rd overall, five minutes down on the leaders. 

He started the race with a 130th-place finish in the opening prologue, losing 52 seconds in just 4km. 

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Froome added: “I know about my injuries and do not expect miracles. I won't wake up one day and suddenly win again, because I’m starting at the bottom and working my way up again.”  

Sonny Colbrelli managed to hold off a fast-finishing Patrick Bevin to take stage two of the Tour de Romandie 2021 and moves him up to fifth overall with Rohan Dennis keeping the overall lead.

Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) managed to hold on over six very tough climbs to go for the sprint into Saint-Imier. Bevin (Israel Start-Up Nation) also looked very strong and almost pipped the Italian sprinter on the line but Colbrelli held on.

Bevin's second place means he moves above both Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte (both Ineos Grenadiers) in the general classification to slot into second overall with third place Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) moving up to sixth in the GC.

Dennis held on to his yellow jersey despite working for the final 17km for his leaders of Thomas and Porte where he needed to pull back attacks from the likes of Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation).

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How it happened

The second stage of the Tour de Romandie started in the town of La Neuveville before tackling six categorised climbs over 165.7km with a descent to the finish in Saint-Imier.

Much like stage one, a six-man breakaway got away with six very strong riders that pulled out a maximum gap of 2-46 back to the peloton.

The six riders up front were Antwan Tolhoek (Jumbo-Visma), Davide Villella (Movistar), Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Jonathan Caicedo (EF-Nippo), Chris Hamilton (DSM) and Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain Victorious).

Once again, Ineos Grenadiers had complete control of the peloton as well as the overall standings going into stage two. Eddie Dunbar, Andrey Amador and Owain Doull were doing all the early work for their leaders.

Taaramäe went on a solo attack just before the second of three passages of the finish line in Saint-Imier before hitting the penultimate climb of the day, Les Pontins which was a very steep climb of just under 5km. The gap had dropped down to 1-17 at the base of the climb thanks to Ineos using the descent to pull the gap back with 46km to go.

Ineos slowed up on the climb as Taaramäe continued to push on alone. He quickly pulled out a very solid gap. He got a gap of 2-10 over the peloton and about 30 seconds to his chasers. The Estonian held 33 seconds over the top of Les Pontins.

Birthday-boy Tolhoek lost touch with the chasing group on the climb and started to head back towards the peloton. He was caught by a fast-moving peloton with 37km to go with 2-17 being the gap up to Taaramäe.

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The chasing group was caught by a charging Ineos with 28km to go as Taaramäe continued to lead by 1-50 before the final climb of the day. The first category one climb of the race, the Vue des Alpes.

With 25km to go Ineos were joined by Qhubeka-Assos and Bahrain Victorious. The pace continued to ride with Israel Start-Up Nation and Jumbo-Visma also joining the pacing. The pace change meant that stage one winner Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was dropped with 22km to go along with Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal).

Taaramäe was caught with 21km to go as Team DSM took over the pacing for their main riders. Ineos continued to look strong at the front just behind the leading riders from DSM. Ilan Van Wilder (DSM) kicked with Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo), Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) and Ben O’Connor (Ag2r-Citroën).

Dennis was forced to chase for Thomas and Porte so Woods countered with Elissonde and Kuss with 19km to go. But again, Dennis was just keeping calm and setting a very solid pace to pull it back.

Colbrelli managed to get over the top of the final climb led by Dennis with Thomas and Porte on the wheel with 16km to go in a very reduced group. Pernsteiner joined Dennis at the front to work for Colbrelli in the closing 6km.

O’Connor tried to get away in the last 2km but Dennis closed it down immediately but Dennis caused a gap with Thomas alongside him but Woods managed to drag it back as Bahrain Victorious up as they went under the Flamme Rouge.

GC riders Jack Haig and Damiano Caruso (both Bahrain Victorious) led Colbrelli out with Caruso doing the last sprint to the line for his fast man, positioning him perfectly and pinning Bevin in a bit so he had to sprint the long way around the Italian.

Colbrelli's win sees him move to fifth overall with Bevin slotting in at second just eight seconds behind the overall leader, Dennis. Hirschi also gained some bonus seconds seeing him go in at sixth place.

Dennis still holds the overall lead with Thomas and Porte still very well placed for the upcoming mountain stage on Saturday. But stage three is to come first with a loop ride from and to Estravayer over lumpy terrain but an expected sprint after 168.7km.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2021 stage two, La Neuveville to Saint-Imier (165.7km)

1. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious. in 4-21-42

2. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel Start-Up Nation

3. Marc Hirschi (Sui) UAE Team Emirates

4. Clément Champoussin (Fra) Ag2r-Citroën Team

5. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

6. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe

7. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM

8. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

9. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates

10. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar Team, all at same time.

General classification after stage two

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, in 8-39-48

2. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 8 seconds

3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 9s

4. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers

5. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, all at same time

6. Marc Hirschi (Sui) UAE Team Emirates, at 11s

7. Jasús Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 14s

8. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 15s

9. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 16s

10. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM, at the same time.

Peter Sagan looked very strong on stage one of the Tour de Romandie 2021, beating a strong field of sprinters including Italian Sonny Colbrelli who finished second behind the Slovakian.

Speaking after the finish, Sagan has thanked his team for their "continued support" as his contract with Bora-Hansgrohe is in doubt for next season.

Sagan was perfectly placed going into the final few corners as he battled for Colbrelli's (Bahrain Victorious) wheel. His team relied mostly on the team of the overall leader Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers) to do most of the day's work before starting their chase with around 40km to go.

The former three-time world champion has not raced the Tour de Romandie since 2010 where he won ahead of Francesco Gavazzi (then Lampre-Farnese Vini) and Nicolas Roche (then Ag2r La Mondiale) in a bunch sprint to take his third ever career victory.

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Speaking after the finish, Sagan said: "I'm really happy to win again in the Tour de Romandie. In 2010 I had taken the first road stage and here I am eleven years later with another victory.

"I have to thank my teammates for their great job today, in the last two laps they were pulling in the front and after the last climb, they held the bunch together.

"It feels nice after three weeks without any racing to come here and win, probably the only stage suited to me because the following ones will be very hard. Thanks as well to the whole team and its sponsors for their continuous support."

Last month, Bora-Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk raised doubts about Sagan's future with the team, questioning how long the three-time world champion can justify his salary with his performances on the road.

Sagan, who put in a very strong time in the prologue on the race's first day, has now moved up to fifth in the overall standings just twelve seconds behind Dennis and three seconds behind Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte (both Ineos Grenadiers) on the podium spots.

Team sports director, Jan Valach said: "It was a nice stage for us today but a hard one as well, with 2,600 metres of altitude gain. The goal we had set was to win, we all worked towards it and we achieved it.

"We controlled from the start to avoid having a big breakaway group, Juraj [Sagan], Jordi [Meeus], and Marcus Burghardt put in a big effort to keep things under control. Juraj and Jordi contributed to catching the break while Burgi placed the squad in the right position before the final climb.

"Then, Ben [Zwiehoff] was essential in bringing back all the late attacks in the closing, flat, kilometres. This excellent teamwork was finally capped off with a good sprint by Peter and a stage win.

"Last but certainly not least, Wilco [Kelderman] was always in the leading front group and finished safely with the main GC contenders."

Stage two suits a rider who can get over the hills but also have a fast finish. It could potentially be another perfect day for Sagan, but he comes up against some very solid riders like Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech).

Peter Sagan took stage one of the Tour de Romandie 2021 after showing good pace in the bunch finish beating Sonny Colbrelli on the line after the Italian had a perfect lead-out to the last 150 metres.

Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) had not won a stage of this race since his third ever career victory several years ago, but he showed very strong pace to beat Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) and Patrick Bevin (Israel Start-Up Nation) in the dash to the line.

Six riders went up in the break to battle for the mountain points available throughout the stage but they could not hold off the peloton that was led all day by Ineos Grenadiers. Ineos also hold their positions in the overall with Rohan Dennis leading team-mates Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte going into stage two.

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How it happened

The stage started in Aigle before the riders took on four laps of a finishing circuit around Martigny over 168.1km with nine categorised climbs along the way. Unfortunately, British rider Harry Tanfield (Qhubeka-Assos) did not start on stage two.

Six riders got up in the day's break and pulled out a maximum gap of five minutes. Those riders were Filippo Conca (Lotto-Soudal), Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-Citroën), Thymen Arensman (DSM), Robert Power (Qhubeka-Assos), Manuele Boaro (Astana-Premier Tech), Joel Suter (Swiss National Team).

Ineos Grenadiers controlled the pace of the peloton slowly bringing the gap down to the break with the gap dipping under two minutes with 65km to go before the penultimate ascents of the Produit and Chamoson climbs.

Suter took maximum points on all of the climbs before the final lap, taking the mountains jersey for the third stage. He went solo on the Produit climb with 60km to go to try and solo over the Chamoson, solidifying his position in the mountains competition.

The Swiss rider continued to push on a bit to distance the rest of the break with about 28 seconds at the bottom of the descent but sat up to allow the chasers to rejoin him.

Bora-Hansgrohe started to work with Ineos at the 50km to go mark as they looked for a stage win from Sagan. BikeExchange and Bahrain Victorious were the next teams to join in with the chase with 45km to go bringing the gap down below two minutes.

The pace started to rocket just before the final time up the two climbs with 30km to go with multiple teams coming to the front to hold position on the very narrow roads on the climbs. This frantic chase brought the gap well below a minute to the break.

Ineos led onto the climb with all their main men at the front as they looked to keep everything calm to avoid attacks. The break had 20 seconds at the base of the Produit climb with 28km to go.

Gougeard was the first rider pulled back with the break splitting to pieces on the climb with Arensman using the ascent to go clear. Suter tried to stay with the young Dutchman but the DSM rider, Arensman, pushed on solo, dropping the rest of the break.

Arensman was the last man to be caught too as the rest of the break was brought back over the top of the first climb as the rain started to fall with 25km to go. Arensman hit the final climb with just a 12-second gap on the peloton.

Ineos controlled the pace so no riders tried to get away on the climbs with Arensman brought back with 18km to go. The peloton was not going fast at all so Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) kicked solo to try and take the stage win and the overall lead as he started the day at just 11 seconds behind Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers).

The move by Cavagna forced BikeExchange and Bahrain Victorious to chase the French time trial champion with 16km to go. Cavagna was brought back but tried again with team-mate Mattia Cattaneo as well as Damien Howson (BikeExchange) and Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) with 10km to go.

That, again, was brought back with the sprint teams then taking on the control into the final 8km as they were riding into a headwind on the way to Martigny. Groupama-FDJ and EF Education-Nippo moved up in the last 4km.

As the race went into the final 2km it was Bahrain Victorious who took up the pacing with just one rider in front of Colbrelli. The Italian sprinter was perfectly guided through the tricky damp turns all the way till 150 metres to go when he kicked for the line.

Unfortunately for him, former world champion Sagan had more speed after using his slipstream as a slingshot to get around and take the win.

Ineos remain in control of the podium spots as it stands with Thomas looking like the main focus for the team. He still sits in second behind Dennis with another GC possibility, Porte being the next in line in third.

Stage two takes on a lot more climbing with six categorised climbs on the menu, five of which are category two with the final kick being a category one.

The stage  starts in La Neuveville and takes on a very hilly stage over a distance of 165.7km to Saint-Imier where we may see a small group sprint for the line.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2021 stage one, Aigle to Martigny (168.1km)

1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 4-12-40

2. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious

3. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel Start-Up Nation

4. Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

5. Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

6. Magnus Cort (Den) EF Education-Nippo

7. Dion Smith (NZl) Team BikeExchange

8. Clément Venturini (Fra) Ag2r-Citroën Team

9. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

10. Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, in 4-18-06

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 9 seconds

3. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at same time

4. Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 11s

5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 12s

6. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, at 13s

7. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 14s

8. Jesús Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at same time

9. Marc Hirschi (Sui) UAE Team Emirates, at 15s

10. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at same time.

Rohan Dennis said he’d planned to minimise the losses on the flat, before hitting the hill as hard as he could in the Tour de Romandie prologue.

Australian time trial specialist Dennis was the dominant rider in the short 4km test on the opening day of the race, as his Ineos Grenadiers team swept the podium. 

But Dennis faced a tough challenge both from power TT riders and general classification contenders, particularly his team-mates Filippo Ganna, Geraint Thomas, Richie Porte.

The prologue stage of the 2021 Tour de Romandie was a demanding course, with an out-and-back start followed by a sharp 700m climb with a six per cent average gradient.  

Speaking after his second TT victory of the year, Dennis said: "It was full gas... Then full gas even more! It was quite tricky to pace it, because there’s still a minute and a half uphill and there’s no way to get the extra speed unless you’ve got the power. That last 700-800m really hurt. 

"I thought when I hit the climb that I had gone too slow, but on the climb it didn't feel like that, the last 400m seemed to go on forever.  It was a tough little finish.

“It was a great day with first, second and third with G and Richie on the podium as well, it was perfect for us.” 

Ineos Grenadiers dominated the stage, with Dennis taking the win and the overall lead, while Geraint Thomas and Porte filled the podium spots, both nine seconds behind. 

The team are now in a strong position for the overall battle heading into the first road stage, as they will hope to follow-up on their clean sweep in the Volta a Catalunya, where Adam Yates took victory with Porte and Thomas on the podium. 

On his TT win, Dennis said: "I knew I had to go out hard to stay in contention with riders like Filippo and the power guys and then hope that I could perform on the climb a little bit better than them. My tactic was to minimise the time on the flat and hit the hill as hard as I could. I didn't lose too much time to G and Richie on the climb and I'm pretty happy with my form. 

"It's given me a lot of confidence for the final stage and shown I can do this in such a short time trial, with pure power, I think it's going to be a good week - especially after the last race when I was climbing pretty well, but plenty of work to do yet.”

>>> Geraint Thomas leads super-strong Ineos Grenadiers team at Tour de Romandie 2021 

He added: “I'd like to keep the leader's jersey for as long as possible, but let's see how it goes with the big mountains on Saturday then the final day with the TT, but I think there's plenty of work for me to do for Richie and G.”  

Rohan Dennis smashed his competition on the prologue of the 2021 Tour de Romandie, as Ineos Grenadiers dominated the podium.

Dennis destroyed the times of the rivals who raced earlier in the day, taking the top spot with a time of 5-26 over the short but challenging course.

He was followed by general classification contenders Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte, who both set times nine seconds slower than Dennis, with Thomas now sitting second overall and Porte in third.

How it happened

The opening stage of the 2021 Tour de Romandie was the first of two individual time trials bookending this year’s race.

At just 4km-long, the prologue in Oron in western Switzerland, was an explosive test, starting with an out-and-back stretch, before a sharp right turn, with the stage culminating in a challenging 700-metre final climb to the line, with an average gradient of 6.5 per cent.

Early in the stage, all attention was on the time trial specialists, particularly Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), who both battled for the provisional race lead. 

It was Bissegger who crossed the line first with a strong time of 5-36 after holding an average speed of 43.264km/h, with European champion Küng just behind on the road.

Küng wasn’t able to match the time of his Swiss compatriot, with a time of 5-43, fast enough for provisional third place behind Bissegger and Israel Start-Up Nation’s Patrick Bevin. 

As the podium continued to change over the course of the day, Bissegger’s time stood up to the challenge until former time trial world champion Dennis hit the course.

At the time check just over 2km into the course, Dennis had matched Bissegger’s time but on the final climb to the line the Australian found an extra gear, smashing the previous fastest time by 11 seconds.

Dennis took over the hot seat with a time of 5-27, but still faced the daunting prospect of his team-mate Filippo Ganna soon hitting the course. 

But despite being just three seconds down on Dennis at the timing check, Ganna’s power wasn’t enough to match the climbing ability of Dennis, with the reigning world champion only managing the provisional fifth fastest time, 14 seconds behind the leader.

Ineos weren’t done yet however, with Richie Porte crushing the course and finishing provisional second place with a time of 5-36, just nine seconds behind his compatriot and team-mate Dennis. 

Rémi Cavagna, the French national TT champion then put in a dangerous ride, going three seconds faster at the intermediate time check, but losing time on the climb and rolling in third place with a 5-37. 

The last rider to set off on the course was another Ineos Grenadiers star, Geraint Thomas, always a consistent performer in a TT. 

Despite crossing the intermediate timing check nine seconds down on the fastest times, Thomas committed to the second half of the course and flew up the final climb, finishing with a time of 5-35, fast enough for second place behind Dennis. 

Dennis now leads the race overall heading into the first road stage, with Thomas and Porte close behind at a nine-second deficit. 

>>> Geraint Thomas leads super-strong Ineos Grenadiers team at Tour de Romandie 2021 

Chris Froome, continuing his comeback from serious injury with Israel Start-Up Nation, finished in 130th place, 52 seconds down on Dennis.

 Results

Tour de Romandie 2021, prologue: Oron to Oron (4.05km ITT)

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, in 5-26

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 9s

3. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at same time

4. Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 11s

5. Stefan Bissegger (Sui) EF Education-Nippo, at same time

6. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, at 13s

7. Jesús Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 14s

8. Marc Hirschi (Sui) UAE Team Emirates, at 15s

9. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

10. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time

General classification after prologue

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, in 5-26

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 9s

3. Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers, at same time

4. Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 11s

5. Stefan Bissegger (Sui) EF Education-Nippo, at same time

6. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, at 13s

7. Jesús Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 14s

8. Marc Hirschi (Sui) UAE Team Emirates, at 15s

9. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

10. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time

Ineos Grenadiers have sent an exceptionally strong team to the Tour de Romandie 2021 as their riders build towards the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France.

Geraint Thomas is set to be the leader as he continues to focus on another push at Tour de France glory after missing out on the team selection last year. Thomas has shown some very good early season form with solid performances at Tirreno-Adriatico as well as a podium behind team-mate Adam Yates at Volta a Catalunya.

But Thomas isn't the only possible overall focus for the British super-team as third place at the 2020 Tour de France, Richie Porte is back on the bike and racing as he too looks towards the Tour but in more of a support role for Thomas and Richard Carapaz.

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The race should suit Thomas and Porte with plenty of climbing and two time trials that book-end the race. The time trials are likely to suit superstar time trialists too and Ineos have a couple of pretty decent ones.

World time trial champion Filippo Ganna returns for the first time since his undefeated streak in time trials was ended by both Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) at Tirreno. With two hilly time trials on the menu, will Ganna get his winning feeling back?

Another rider who is likely to be right up in the top places against the clock is former world champion Rohan Dennis who comes into the race after winning the time trial at the Volta a Catalunya before the team went on to completely dominate the overall standings.

Dennis will hope he can break his duck against his main rival as well as good friend, Ganna but they will have Küng as well as Paris-Nice time trial winner Stefan Bissegger (EF-Nippo) to go up against.

The main support for the team's leaders is likely to come from Irishman Eddie Dunbar, who comes into the race after a solid display in the Ardennes Classics as well as trusty duper-domestique Andrey Amador.

Completing the line-up is Welsh rider Owain Doull. He is likely going to be helping his leaders with positioning but could potentially have a go in the sprints. He would come up against very tough opposition though with Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe and Matteo Moschetti (Trek-Segafredo) being on the start line.

The Tour de Romandie starts later today (April 27) with a four-kilometre prologue around the town of Oron that finishes up an 800-metre climb that averages at around eight per cent gradient.

Ineos Grenadiers line-up for Tour de Romandie 2021

Geraint Thomas (GBr)

Richie Porte (Aus)

Filippo Ganna (Ita)

Rohan Dennis (Aus)

Andrey Amador (CRi)

Eddie Dunbar (Irl)

Owain Doull (GBr)

Overall victory is Ineos Grenadiers’ to lose

With no Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) or Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), this year’s Tour de Romandie is Ineos Grenadiers' to lose.

Although their star stage racer of the season so far Adam Yates won’t be riding, Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte look set to co-lead, and will be seen as the men to beat. Both riders were in great form at the Volta a Catalunya, where they finished second and third respectively behind Yates, in what was an unprecedented podium clean sweep for the team.

The time trial-heavy route, which features two stages against the clock together totalling 20km, will suit both riders, while a strong line-up of domestiques featuring Rohan Dennis, Filippo Ganna and Andrey Amador are well-equipped to control the race on the key stage four mountain top finish at Thyon 2000, as well as during some potentially tricky hilly stages preceding it.

With so much going in their favour, perhaps the more pertinent question is not if they’ll win the race, but which of their riders will? Ineos Grenadiers’ approach this season has generally been not to select a single outright leader for everyone to rally behind, and instead let the road decide. Whatever happens, both have an exceptional past record riding for Ineos as both leaders and super-domestiques, so they should form a formidable duo.

GC stars hoping to rediscover their top form

The absence of many of the peloton’s most in-form riders will give an opportunity for other currently misfiring stars to get their season going.

Steven Kruijswijk, for instance, hasn’t looked himself since last summer, but will lead Jumbo-Visma’s GC challenge in Romandie. Though Sepp Kuss could deputise should Kruijswijk still not be up to speed, the team will be hoping that their marquee Dutchman returns to his best with the Tour de France now just a couple of months away.

For Movistar, Miguel Ángel López is at last set to make his first appearance since signing for the team. The Colombian hasn’t raced since crashing out of the opening stage of last year’s Giro d’Italia in October, after his start to the season was further delayed by a Covid positive, so he perhaps can’t be expected to compete for GC again just yet.

His Colombian compatriot Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo) also rides with form currently eluding him, while Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) once again starts a WorldTour stage race hoping to see some kind of improvement as he continues his rehabilitation.

With these riders all lacking form, the GC contenders are likely to come from elsewhere. Froome’s teammate Michael Woods looked on fire at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, so could be a contender for overall victory, while Ion Izagirre (Astana-Premier Tech) and Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) will both appreciate the time trialing kilometres.

Meanwhile Lucas Hamilton (Mitchelton-Scott), Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) and Ben O’Conor (Ag2r-Citroën) are all good bets for top ten finishes.

Sagan seeking stage wins on a favourable parcours

It’s been a while since Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was the star sprinter of a stage race, but a favourable parcours plus the absence of some of the top fastmen and puncheurs means he could be poised for some success in Romandie.

The Slovak has shown glimpses of his best this season, stealthily finishing fourth at Milan-San Remo as well as taking a stage win at Volta a Catalunya, and could now be back to his roaring best having taken time off racing since the Tour of Flanders. 

Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) is the other headline sprinter set to line-up, but he continues to struggle for form. Aside from him, not many riders other than Dion Smith (BikeExchange) and the Bahrain-Victorious duo of Sonny Colbrelli and Phil Bauhaus would fancy their chances against Sagan in a sprint — but look out for young British talent Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ), who could win a sprint if he continues his early-season form.

Looking at the parcours, it’s easy to see why the top sprinters opted to stay away. There are no flat stages at all, with stages one, two and three all featuring hilly parcours that look likely to end with a puncheur winning from an attack or a reduced bunch sprint.

While the aforementioned riders could all win in the latter scenario, there are plenty of quality puncheurs who could try to put in some dangerous attacks on these stages. Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech) and Diego Uliisi (UAE Team Emirates) are all ones to watch in this respect, although all are, for various reasons, struggling for form.

Hirschi coming into form just in time for home race

Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) is the new star of Swiss cycling, and the 22-year-old will race on home roads for the first time since his star-making turns at last year’s Tour de France and Ardennes Classics.

After delaying his start to the 2021 seasons following a surprise transfer from DSM to UAE Team Emirates, Hirschi took a whale to get going, with underwhelming performances at both Itzulia Basque Country and Volta a Catalunya.

But at Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the weekend, he once again looked like the same rider who so impressed last season, riding really strongly in the finale to help teammate Tadej Pogačar take victory, and sealing a sixth-place finish for himself — his highest of the season so far.

That suggests he’s ridden himself into top shape just in time for the Tour de Romandie, and will therefore be a top tip for stage wins. All three of the opening road stages look within his capabilities, either from an attack or a small group sprint. Riding in his home country, Hirschi could be the star of the race.

Time trial stars assemble for two stages against the clock

With a 4km prologue to open the race, and a 16km time trial to end it, many of the world’s finest practitioners of racing against the clock will gather in Romandie to compete for stage wins.

World champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) will, of course, be the man to beat. The Italian has been sensational in time trials since the end of lockdown last year, and already has two victories to his name this season — although his unbeatable aura at last took a hit at Tirreno-Adriatico when his long winning streak against the clock at last came to an end.

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) was one of the men to beat him that day, and will, along with his Swiss compatriot and Paris-Nice stage winner Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo), be extra-motivated riding on home roads.

Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) will also be a top contender in both stages, while experienced Brit Alex Dowsett (Israel StartUp Nation) are interesting outside bets.

>>> Chris Froome and Michael Woods head Israel Start-Up Nation at Tour de Romandie 2021 

Ganna’s main competition could, however, come from his own team. As well as GC hopefuls Geraint Thomas and Riche Porte, former double world champion Rohan Dennis will surely fancy his chances, especially after taking a stage at Volta a Catalunya last month.

Chris Froome and Michael Woods are down to ride the Tour de Romandie for their team Israel Start-Up Nation along with a strong line-up set to search for stage wins.

Froome comes into this after another disappointing performance at the week-long race of the Tour of the Alps where he finished a long way behind eventual winner, Simon Yates (BikeExchange). Although, Froome did show some signs of improvement after making a strong breakaway on the queen stage of the race.

The seven-time Grand Tour winner is likely to get a carte blanche role to try and find his legs and potentially get up in more breakaways and try to challenge for a stage win.

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Meanwhile, Woods has been in the Ardennes showing off his exceptional form that he has carried all the way from the start of the season at the Tour du Var. Woods managed two top-fives in the Ardennes Classics and looked the strongest on the climbs.

The punchy climber from Toronto also showed he had what it took to go up against the best in the high mountains at the Volta a Catalunya where he managed a few top-ten results.

Woods is almost certainly going into the race as the team leaders and team sports director, Ril Verbrugghe confirmed this in a team press release: "The goal for us here is a stage win and if we can get a good spot in the GC as well, it would be perfect.

"We have some strong time trialists lining up so we aim for a good result in the prologue already. Woods has shown that he’s in really good shape at the moment and he will be our man for the general classification."

Alongside Woods and Froome are some very talented riders who will mostly be targetting the two time trials that book-end the race.

Giro d'Italia stage winner, Alex Dowsett will be hoping he can put in a good show against the clock in the prologue and perhaps take the yellow jersey, but he will face stiff opposition from his team-mates as well as riders like Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ).

Patrick Bevin is another rider who can put in a very impressive time trial but he also has a very fast finish making him a possibility for the team on the sprint and punchy days. Alongside him are riders who are likely to go for breakaways or support Woods.

Mads Würtz Schmidt comes into this after having a great start to his season taking a stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico as well as second place in the mountains standings behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

Guillaume Boivin would be a good call for a sprint from a small group, much like Bevin, but will likely be on support duty. Whereas Swiss rider Reto Hollenstein will be hoping to impress on home roads.

The Tour de Romandie starts on Tuesday, April 27 with a tricky 4km prologue around Oron that takes on an 800-metre climb that maxes out at a gradient of eight per cent to the line.

Israel Start-Up Nation line-up for Tour de Romandie 2021

Michael Woods (Can)

Chris Froome (GBr)

Alex Dowsett (GBr)

Patrick Bevin (NZl)

Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den)

Reto Hollenstein (Sui)

Guillaume Boivin (Can)

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) sealed a second successive Tour de Romandie title with a dominant stage win in the individual time trial.

The Slovenian finished 13 seconds clear of the next fastest rider, new Hour Record holder Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Soudal), to consolidate his GC lead, finishing 49 seconds ahead of Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates).

Campenaerts held the best time for over an hour and a half until Roglič was the final rider to roll out of the start hut, and opened up a 14 second gap on the Belgian at the intermediate check point. The 29-year-old held this advantage over the second half of the course to seal his third stage victory and the overall win.

Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) snuck on to the GC podium, holding off Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) by losing only two seconds to the Austrian to maintain a one second lead in the overall, whilst David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) failed to protect his third place and slipped down to fifth.

Roglić now heads off to the 2019 Giro d'Italia in fine form and as one of the favourites, boosted by Egan Bernal now not taking the start line in Bologna on May 11 after breaking his collarbone in a training ride crash.

How it happened

The fifth and final stage of the 2019 Tour de Romandie was a 16.9km individual time trial. After a couple of lumps the road flattens out for the final five kilometres.

Filippo Ganna (Team Ineos) was the quickest of the first 30 riders off the start ramp with a time of 20-13. He probably expected to get comfortable in the hot seat whilst watching the next 88 riders try and beat his time, but that wasn't accounting for Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Soudal).

The new UCI Hour Record holder went through two seconds faster than Ganna, at 20-11, with Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) the next rider to go close, nine seconds down at the midway point but going better in the second half to finish three seconds behind Campenaerts at the finish, to place himself in provisional third with a time of 20-14.

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) was one of the favourites for today's stage, but the Swiss rider finished nine seconds down on Campenaerts, and sat in provisional fourth place, with Patrick Bevin (CCC) then coming through to dislodge Tony Martin from third spot on the virtual stage podium.

It was then time for the GC contenders to do all they could over the short course to try and unseat Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), who led Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) by 12 seconds, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) by 16 seconds, and Team Ineos' Geraint Thomas by 26 seconds at the start of the day.

At the halfway point, Thomas was 17 seconds down on Campenaerts, a time that would see him drop behind Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the overall classification.

Gaudu was also struggling, 28 seconds down on Campenaerts at halfway, his podium place very much in question, whilst Rui Costa was only 11 seconds down and set to hold on to his second place on GC.

Primož Roglič was the last off the ramp, wearing the yellow leader's jersey, and was 14 seconds up on Campenaerts at the intermediate time check, meaning he was on track to take a third stage win and the overall classification.

Großschartner finished in 20-42, followed by Thomas two seconds slower in 20-44, meaning Thomas held him off by just one second.

That one second would prove crucial, as David Gaudu finished with a time of 20-58, which was not good enough to hold on to his podium place, dropping behind Thomas.

Costa posted a good time of 20-35, but then Roglič showed why he's not only won this race, but is also hotly favoured to take home the Giro, beating Campenaerts' time by a convincing 13 seconds to take both the stage and confirm his victory in the overall classification.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2019 stage five: Geneva to Geneva ITT (16.9km)

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 19-58

2. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, in 13 seconds

3. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Ineos, in 15s

4. Patrick Bevin (Nzl) CCC, in 16s

5. Tony Martin (Ger) Jumbo-Visma, at same time

6. Stefan Kung (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, at 22s

7. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 37s

8. William Barta (USA) CCC, at 43s

9. Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 44s

10. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos, at 46s

General classification after stage five

1. Primož Roglić (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 15-25-11

2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 49 seconds

3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos, at 1-12

4. Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-13

5. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 1-17

6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 1-33

7. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-35

8. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 2-00

9. Simon Špilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin, at 2-08

10.  Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First, at 2-18

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) consolidated his lead in the overall classification with a win on stage four of the 2019 Tour de Romandie.

After the race was reduced by 70km and the majority of the climbing taken out of the queen stage, the group of GC contenders left it late to try and dislodge Roglič from the race lead, with a number of attacks coming in the closing kilometres of the summit finish at Torgon.

With the help of his team-mate Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma), Roglič managed to stave off the attacks up the climb, even attempting a couple of moves himself that were quickly shut down by Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos).

In the finishing straight the Brit Hugh Carthy (EF Eduation First) jumped ahead, but Roglič quickly reeled him in and sailed past to claim the stage victory and firm up his GC lead.

Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) came across the line second, mirroring his second place in the overall classification, 12 seconds adrift of Roglič. Geraint Thomas finished third and moved back up to fourth place on GC, 26 seconds down on Roglič ahead of tomorrow's final individual time trial.

How it happened

The original route for stage four was reduced by 70km under the UCI's extreme weather protocol, with the second category Sorens and Saanenmöser and the first category Jaunpass and Col des Mosses taken out.

In their place, race organisers added in the third category Prévonloup, with the summit finish at the first category Torgon remaining as the only other climb on the revised 105.3km route.

The day's break went away within the first five kilometres of racing, with a group of eight riders going clear: Simon Pellaud (Switzerland), Claudio Imhof (Switzerland), Jonas Gregaard (Astana), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto-Soudal), Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

What was due to be an action-packed day of racing on the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie became a fairly pedestrian affair after the route change, and it was up the added third category climb at Prévonloup where Simon Pellaud sealed the king of the mountains jersey for the Swiss national team, reaching the summit first and amounting an unassailable lead.

Jumbo-Visma led the peloton in pursuit of the breakaway, who took the gap out to a maximum of just over two minutes, as the Dutch outfit looked to protect Primož Roglič's lead in the overall classification, which looked much more comfortable after the alteration to the day's stage.

As the race approached the Torgon, the final 10.5km first category climb of the day, the breakaway's gap began to come down, with the group splintering and Remco Evenepoel dropping off.

As the life started to go out of the break, Daniel Martinez attacked in the foothills of the Torgon, looking for the stage victory, before Gougeard joined him at the front of the race with under 10km remaining.

Simon Špilak (Katusha-Alpecin) and Roland Thalmann (Switzerland) then attacked from the peloton, passing remnants of the breakaway, as the rain started to fall more heavily on the road and they pursued the leading pair together.

Cars and motos were pulled out from between the leaders and chase group with 6km to go, as the gap crashed down to only seven seconds.

Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) looked in fine form as the bunch decided this would be a GC day and they quickly reeled back in both the chase group and the lead duo of Martinez and Gougeard with just over 2km left to climb of the Torgon.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) was the first to show their hand in the GC battle, trying to jump with 3km to go on the road, as Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) quickly took his wheel. Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) was next to try before Gaudu went over the top again with Kruijswijk shutting down all moves in defence of his team-mate Primož Roglič.

The reduced bunch of favourites reached the summit of the Torgon together, with Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) attacking soon after with Roglič then launching his attack, jumping clear of the peloton with relative ease.

Geraint Thomas then took the front and started to wind Roglič in, before Kruijswijk lost his wheel, but the pair were brought back in by Michael Woods (EF Education First).

The bunch raced towards the line with 500m to go, Hugh Carthy then tried to jump clear but Roglič proved too strong, sailing past with a couple of hundred metres to go and sealing the stage win ahead of Rui Costa and Geraint Thomas in second and third respectively.

Sunday's fifth and final stage is an individual time trial in Geneva, where reigning champion Primož Roglič will look to defend his 12 second lead in the overall classification.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2019 stage four: Lucens to Torgon (105.3km)

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 2-42-21

2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates

3. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Ineos

4. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First

5. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

6. Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe

7. Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana

8. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

9. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma

10. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, all at same time

General classification after stage four

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 12-23-02

2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates), at 12 seconds

3. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 16s

4. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos, at 26s

5. Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 29s

6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 37s

7. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First, at 38s

8. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 57s

9. Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar, at 1-00

10. Simon Špilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin, at same time

David Gaudu took a major win against world-class climbers on stage three of the Tour de Romandie.

The young Frenchman kept out of trouble on an unpredictable day of racing and was able to fight for victory on the final uncategorised climb to the line.

Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) waited patiently at the head of a reduced peloton, attacking at the perfect moment 100 metres from the line, beating Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and race leader Primož Roglič  (Jumbo-Visma) into second and third respectively.

Roglič holds the race lead with a six-second advantage over Gaudu heading into the stage four summit finish.

How it happened

Stage three of the 2019 Tour de Romandie was another punchy and challenging day, over 160km starting and finishing in Romont in eastern Switzerland.

With three categorised climbs along the route, it promised to be another tough stage with general classification riders needing to stay alert to avoid being caught out.

The stage opened with a second category climb in the opening 11km, followed by a third category test 40km in.

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After another 60km of rolling terrain the peloton faced another category three test, followed by more relentlessly undulating terrain.

The final 20km of the stage included the second category Villars-Brarnard (4.2km at 5.3 per cent) ascent, before the uphill run to the line punctuated by two short descents.

An early rhythm for the day was established over the opening 50km, with seven riders forming the day's breakaway.

Prologue winner Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida), Kenny Elissonde (Team Ineos), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Michael Albasini (Mitchelton-Scott), Michael Storer, Lennard Kämna (Sunweb) and Roland Thalmann (Switzerland) all broke clear in the opening stages, but the tough terrain saw changes up front.

Albasini and Amador were dropped from the break inside 100km, with Astana's Nikita Stalnov attacking and bridging across shortly after to make it six in the move.

The peloton were aware to the danger after missing out to the breakaway on stage two, and kept the escapees within two minutes.

With 20km the break were caught as the race approached the final categorised climb of the day.

EF Education First attacked on the slopes with Hugh Carthy and his team set the pace at the front of the peloton.

A reduced bunch made it over the climb, with Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) launching a speculative attack that failed.

CCC Team took control at the front with race leader Roglič pinned to their wheel inside 2km.

The peloton hit the final rise to the line as Thomas moved to the front with Gaudu half-wheeling alongside.

Thomas rode at an easy pace as he waited for attacks, with Davide Villela (Astana) putting in a brief dig.

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Costa then darted round against the barrier in the final few hundred metres as Gaudu went wide and opened up with enough power to break clear.

Thomas was forced to slow to avoid hitting the wheel of Michael Woods, taking him out of the fight.

Gaudu rode to victory with Costa taking second and Roglič sneaking in for third

Results

Tour de Romandie 2019 stage three: Romont to Romont (160km)

1. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 3-50-53

2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates

3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma

4. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First

5. Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, all at same time

6. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert, at 3 seconds

7. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

8. Davide Villela (Ita) Astana

9. Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto-Soudal

10. Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time

General classification after stage three

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 12-23-02

2. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 6s

3. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates), at 8s

4. Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 19s

5. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos, at 20s

6. Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar, at 21s

7. Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at 25s

8. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 27s

9. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First, at 28s

10. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 29s

Stefan Küng rode to a daring solo victory in rain-drenched conditions on stage two of the Tour de Romandie.

The Groupama-FDJ rider made the day's breakaway and powered away from his companions 18km from the line.

Despite a concerted chase by the sprint teams behind, Küng was unshakable as he rode clear and held the peloton at bay.

The sprinters fought hard behind to battle for minor places, with Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) taking the sprint for second and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain)-Merida) finishing third.

Primož Roglič finished safely in the bunch to hold the race lead.

How it happened

Stage two of the Tour de Romandie looked to be the first opportunity for the sprinters, but it wouldn't be a stroll to the line thanks to two notable climbs on the parcours.

Covering 174.4km from Le Locle on the French border, the race headed south to Morges.

After a relatively flat opening 30km, a short sharp rise took the peloton to a long descent followed by a 40km valley floor leading to the first climb of the day.

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The second category Col du Mollendruz (21.3km at 3.3 per cent) came 142km into the day and threatened to test the likes of Elia Viviani (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Bennett before they could look to the finishing straight.

After another long descent, the peloton then faced the punchy third category climb of Reverolle at 800 metres long and 8.5 per cent average, which marked the start of the gradual descent to the line.

A six-rider breakaway set the tone early on, going clear 10km into the day.

Consisting of Küng, Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2r La Mondiale), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Gobert), Claudio Imhof (Swiss Cycling Team), Jorge Arcas (Movistar) and Nathan Brown (EF Education First), the break built up an advantage of 3-50 as they crested the Mollendruz.

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The advantage began to fall on the road down the mountain, and as the escapees hit the final climb of the day they held around two minutes over the bunch.

Attacks then followed in the break on the Reverolle, with Bagdonas, Küng and Backaert dropping their companions on the stiff slopes and reaching the top with a 1-40 advantage over the bunch.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step and Bora-Hansgrohe helped set the pace behind as Viviani and Bennett safely made it over the day's tests, with Jumbo-Visma also putting numbers at the front to protect race leader Roglič.

The rain-drenched conditions made for some tense moments on the winding Swiss roads, with Bagdonas losing the wheel after a few missed corners.

Küng opened an attacked with 18km left to race and left Backaert behind, holding a 1-20 advantage over the chasing bunch with 10km left to race.

Bagdonas and Backaert joined forces behind to try and chase down Küng, with Arcas, Brown and Imhof 30 seconds back.

Swiss time trial champion Küng rode brilliantly out front, extending the advantage back out to 1-26 with 8km left to race.

The remains of the breakaway were finally caught inside 7km, but Küng continued to power on alone at the front.

As he hit the 3km flat the gap remained at 1-20 as it began to look like the solo push was perfectly timed.

Küng held firm to take victory, with the sprint teams still battling behind.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step led the run in to the line, but it was Bennett who sprinted to second with Colbrelli in third, one minute behind Küng.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2019 stage two: Le Locle to Morges (174.4km)

1. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, in 4-10-59

2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 59 seconds

3. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

4. Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

5. Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

6. Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team

7. Michael Albasini (Sui) Mitchelton-Scott

8. Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin

9. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data

10. Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team, all at same time

General classification after stage two

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 8-32-12

2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 10 seconds

3. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 12s

4. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos, at 13s

5. Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar, at 14s

6. Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 15s

7. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 17s

8. James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, at 18s

9. Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at same time

10. Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team, at 19s

Primož Roglič continues his stage race domination as he took victory on stage one of the 2019 Tour de Romandie.

The Jumbo-Visma rider takes over the race lead after besting general classification rivals in a sprint from a 20-man group.

Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) put in a stinging solo attack inside the final kilometre but was unable to hold off the group, as Roglič took victory with a strong sprint ahead of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates).

Roglič goes into the race lead with a 10-second advantage over Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) after prologue winner Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida) lost contact in the final 50km.

How it happened

A characteristically punchy day marked the first road stage of the 2019 edition of the Tour de Romandie, over 168.4km from the city of Neuchâtel in the east of Switzerland to nearby La Chaux-de-Fonds.

The peloton faced five medium-difficulty climbs along the route, the last of which the Col de la Tourne  (4.2km long and 7.2 per cent average) came 14km from home.

After that test, riders would take on a short descent and a long false flat, before an uncategorised climb, another drop, and then the final slightly downhill run to the line.

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Early in the race a big breakaway of 12 riders went clear, including notable names Diego Rosa (Team Ineos), Eros Capecchi (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r La Mondiale).

The breakaway extended its advantage to 3-40 inside 100km, with the peloton aware to the danger of such a big group building up a gap.

A chase then took shape as the bunch rapidly began to close down the escapees.

As the race approached 40km left to race, eight riders remained out front with an advantage of just over a minute - Rosa, Capecchi, and Gougeard holding their places at the front of the race along with Chad Haga (Sunweb), Lukasz Owsian (CCC Team),  Simon Pellaud (Switzerland), Jonas Vinegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto-Soudal).

The break were caught on the final categorised climb of the day, with a handful of attacks following quickly.

Nothing stuck until Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked with 25km left to ride and pulled out an advantage while riding alone.

Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) was next to attack from the peloton 15km from home with David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) on his wheel, as Michael Woods (EF Education First) joined them in pursuing Buchmann.

The pace over the final kilometres tore the race to pieces until only 20 riders remained at the front, with race leader Tratnik nowhere in sight.

Thomas, Woods and Gaudu were able to catch Buchmann, but it was a doomed effort as the remains of the peloton caught them inside 5km.

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The group of 20 came into the final few kilometres together, as Geraint Thomas launched a last-ditch solo attack that looked like it may have caught rivals by surprise.

But Thomas was quickly overtaken inside the last kilometre to set up a sprint amongst the climbing talent that made it to the line.

Roglič showed his all-round strength and took the win over Gaudu with Rui Costa finishing third.

The Slovenian goes into the leader's jersey after his second place finish on the prologue stage.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2019 stage one: Neuchâtel to La Chaux-de-Fonds (168.4km)

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma,  in 4-5-18

2. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

3. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates

4. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First

5. Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott

6. Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal

7. Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar

8. Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana

9. Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe

10. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert, all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 4-20-15

2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 10 seconds

3. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 12s

4. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos, at 13s

5. Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar, at 14s

6. Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 15s

7. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 17s

8. James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 18s

9. Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at same time

10. Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team, at 19s

Jan Tratnik proved himself the most skilled on a technical course to take victory in the prologue stage at the Tour de Romandie.

The Bahrain-Merida rider bested strong competition on the opening day in Switzerland, finishing a second ahead of defending champion Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).

Tratnik takes the leader's jersey with Roglič the best placed general classification contender in second, while Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) sits in fifth at just four seconds down.

How it happened

The prologue of the Tour de Romandie packed in a hectic route over just 3.87km, with two hair pins, two 90-degree right turns, a sharp climb, a cobbled climb and a chicane.

Bike handling and power were essential in this opening test around the city of Neuchâtel in western Switzerland.

Newly crowned Hour Record holder Victor Campenaerts was favourite for the stage, but the Lotto-Soudal rider crashed on a left-hand turn and finished well outside the provisional best times.

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After Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) set an early marker of 5-11, it was up to German national time trial champion Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) to utilise his years of experience against the clock.

Martin delivered and took the lead with a time of 5-10, but with his team-mates Jos van Emden, Primož Roglič and Steven Kruijswijk still to ride it looked like the race could pass to someone in the same strip.

Van Emden was unable to topple Martin as the number of contenders capable of the win began to dwindle.

But it was Swiss rider Tom Bohli (UAE Team Emirates) who put in a blistering ride to take three seconds out of Martin and top the leaderboard with a time of 5-07.

Bohli was denied however as defending Romandie champion Roglič proved his consistent strength in a time trial, taking the hot seat with less than a second to spare.

Slovenian time trial champion Jan Tratnk (Bahrain-Merida) was the next man to take control, knocking a second off Roglič's time with a 5-06.

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Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas was the penultimate rider to set off, and he looked to be returning to form as he finished four seconds outside the time of Tratnik.

Kruijswijk was the last man to cross the line but was no threat the to the top-10, securing victory for Tratnik.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2019 prologue: Neuchâtel to Neuchâtel (3.87km)

1. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida, in 5-06

2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 1 second

3. Tom Bohli (Sui) UAE Team Emirates, at same time

4. Tony Martin (Ger) Jumbo-Visma, at 4s

5. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos

6. Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin, all at same time

7. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, at 5s

8. Carol Betancur (Col) Movistar

9. Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe

10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida, in 5-06

2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 1 second

3. Tom Bohli (Sui) UAE Team Emirates, at same time

4. Tony Martin (Ger) Jumbo-Visma, at 4s

5. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos

6. Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin, all at same time

7. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, at 5s

8. Carol Betancur (Col) Movistar

9. Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe

10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time

Will reigning champion Primož Roglič defend his title?

Primož Roglič used last year's Tour de Romandie to properly announce himself as a rider who can contend in the overall classification of stage races.

>>> Tour de Romandie 2019 start list

Three GC wins since at the Tour of Slovenia, UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico pale in comparison to an impressive fourth place GC finish at the 2018 Tour de France, four-time winner Chris Froome beating him to the podium by a mere 58 seconds.

Romandie will be used to set Roglič up for the Giro d'Italia, where he will look to drastically improve on his 58th place finish in 2016. The Slovenian will be putting his all into the Giro, with Romandie the perfect launchpad to test his legs, as he is unlikely to get the chance to take on the Tour de France this year, with team-mate Steven Kruijswijk being designated as the team leader for July.

How will Geraint Thomas perform?

A 33rd place finish, 7-22 down on Roglič, in the 2018 edition of the race didn't give any hint that Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) would win the Tour de France a few months later. The Welshman recently admitted that he has lacked racing experience so far this year but that he's not far off his 2018 form, as he continues to build towards defending his title in July.

Thomas' 2019 season started in February at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana before finishing 12th in Strade Bianche. He then went on to abandon Tirreno-Adriatico on stage four due to stomach problems before being taken out of contention for the overall classification of the Tour of the Basque Country after crashing on stage three.

After the Tour de Romandie, Thomas will return to Switzerland for the Tour de Suisse in June. It's safe to say that whenever the 32-year-old gets anywhere near a bike between now and July his every pedal stroke will be put under the microscope as people try and figure out whether he'll be able to replicate his remarkable Grand Tour win. Romandie will be no exception to this.

Another chance for Remco Evenepoel to show his talent

Alongside Deceuninck - Quick-Step's glittering spring Classics campaign, Remco Evenepoel has announced himself as a star for the future with a top 10 on GC and the youth classification at the Vuelta a San Juan and a fourth place GC finish at the Tour of Turkey, where the Belgian often animated the race amongst a field of far more experienced pros.

>>> Tour de Romandie 2019 live TV guide

The Tour de Romandie will be another chance for the 19-year-old to show his class, with his team not demanding any immediate performances, just focused on building his experience and giving him more days of stage racing as he develops.

Victor Campenaerts returns ahead of Giro

Fresh from setting a new UCI Hour Record, beating Bradley Wiggins by 563m, Victor Campenaerts will return to Romandie, a race he didn't complete last year after finishing outside the time limit on stage three.

Like many others, the Belgian will also be riding the Giro d'Italia 2019, and his Lotto-Soudal team have said he'll be targeting the time trials. When that race kicks off he'll have a chance to take the maglia rosa at the opening time trial in Bologna.

He'll get a dress rehearsal of how to take the leader's jersey thanks to a race against the clock on stage one in Romandie, when the riders take on the 3.87km prologue. Last year he finished fifth in the prologue, five seconds down on stage winner Michael Matthews (Sunweb) and will be hoping to improve on that performance this year.

An unofficial first outing for Ineos

The cycling outfit formerly known as Team Sky is due to be officially unveiled at The Tour de Yorkshire, starting on Thursday May 2. However, Team Ineos' first time out on the road will actually be a day earlier, at the Tour of Romandie's prologue in Neuchâtel.

Ineos will be wearing a temporary kit however, saving the official gear for a grand unveiling in Doncaster on stage one in Yorkshire, where Chris Froome will lead a team packed with British talent. Geraint Thomas and his Swiss contingent will be wearing a fairly plain black strip with Ineos written across the front and a familiar light blue line from neck to tail bone along the back.

Team Sky have revealed their one-off strip for the Tour de Romandie as they make their debut as Team Ineos.

The British WorldTour team will be making their first appearance under the new name in Switzerland this week.

Geraint Thomas will lead the squad, which will race in temporary jersey design ahead of the official re-launch at the Tour de Yorkshire.

The one-off kit will be almost identical to the previous Team Sky strip, only with the Ineos logo replacing the outgoing sponsor on the chest and shorts.

>>> ‘There were moments where I thought we wouldn’t do it’: Team Sky survive to take final stage race victory before sponsor change

Colours for the temporary replacement will remain the same, with a single blue strip along the back of the black jersey.

The provisional start list includes a strong Team Ineos line up, with 2018 Tour de France winner Thomas the biggest rider.

Vasil Kiryienka will also make his return to racing after he returned a heart anomaly during a routine scan.

Team Sky have not given any detail into the exact details of the anomaly, but said that Kiryienka has ‘responded well to treatment’ and is now ready to begin racing again.

The five-stage race opens with a 3.87km prologue, followed by two potential sprint days, one hilly stage, and a summit finish before the final day individual time trial.

Broadcaster Sky has called time on its pro cycling sponsorship after a decade in the sport, with chemical company Ineos taking over the team.

>>> Winner of junior E3 BinckBank Classic takes finish line celebration to new extreme 

The name change was originally planned for the Tour de Yorkshire this week, but Team Ineos will now make its debut at the Tour de Romandie on Tuesday (April 30).

The team will be officially launched on Wednesday (May 1), ahead of the first stage of the Tour de Yorkshire the following day.

Ineos will unveil their new colours and kit to race on home roads, with Chris Froome lining up in the Yorkshire squad.

Defending champion Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma) returns to the Tour de Romandie (April 30 - May 5) to take on the prestigious six-day WorldTour race.

The race begins with a fast and flat 3.9 kilometre prologue in Neuchâtel, before stage one heralds the beginning of the climbing that's to come.

>>> Tour de Romandie 2019 start list

Wednesday's 169.4km stage from Neuchâtel to La Chaux-de-Fonds includes a host of climbs which could split the bunch. Though stage two, from La Locle to Morges, takes in plenty of ascents in its 174.4km, the descent to the finish line means we can anticipate a fast sprint finish.

Stage three sees riders complete three mountain loops, taking in the 900 metre ascents of the Brit and the Rue des Moines as many times, though this could still be one for a fast finisher.

There's more mountain loops on Saturday's stage four, from Lucens to Torgon - but here the bunch is less likely to remain intact. The Queen stage of the race, riders will traverse five mountain passes: Vaud, Friborg, Bern, Valais, and the Grand Prix de la Montagne.

The final day will be a 16.8km time trial in Genève. There's a couple of minor kickers, but the second half is flat, so an out-and-out time triallist could shake up the GC if gaps are close.

Tour de Romandie 2019 TV schedule

Broadcast times are subject to change

Prologue: Tuesday, April 30

15.00-16.30, LIVE Tour de Romandie prologue, Eurosport 2

19.00-20.00, Tour de Romandie prologue highlights, Eurosport 2

22.30-23.30, Tour de Romandie prologue highlights, Eurosport 2

Stage one: Wednesday, May 1

14.00-15.00, Tour de Romandie prologue highlights, Eurosport 2

15.00-16.30, LIVE Tour de Romandie stage one, Eurosport 2

19.00-20.00, Tour de Romandie stage one highlights, Eurosport 2

22.30-23.30, Tour de Romandie stage one highlights, Eurosport 2

Stage two: Thursday, May 2

14.00-15.00, Tour de Romandie stage one highlights, Eurosport 2

15.00-16.30, LIVE Tour de Romandie stage two, Eurosport 2

19.00-20.00, Tour de Romandie stage two highlights, Eurosport 2

22.30-23.00, Tour de Romandie stage two highlights, Eurosport 2

Stage three: Friday, May 3

14.00-15.00, Tour de Romandie stage two highlights, Eurosport 2

15.00-16.30 LIVE Tour de Romandie stage three, Eurosport 2

19.00-20.00, Tour de Romandie stage three highlights, Eurosport 2

22.30-23.00, Tour de Romandie stage three highlights, Eurosport 2

Stage four: Saturday, May 4

13.45-15.00, Tour de Romandie stage three highlights, Eurosport 2

15.00-16.30 LIVE Tour de Romandie stage four, Eurosport 2

19.00-20.00, Tour de Romandie stage four highlights, Eurosport 2

22.30-23.00, Tour de Romandie stage four highlights, Eurosport 2

Stage five: Sunday, May 5

14.00-15.00, Tour de Romandie stage four highlights, Eurosport 2

12.45-14.15 LIVE Tour de Romandie stage five, Eurosport 2

19.00-20.00, Tour de Romandie stage five highlights, Eurosport 2

21.30-22.00, Tour de Romandie stage five highlights, Eurosport 2

Social media/web

Official Twitter account: @TourdeRomandie

Official website: www.tourderomandie.ch/en/

Dane Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) soloed away on the descent to Sion, Switzerland, to win stage four of the the Tour de Romandie, 48 seconds ahead of a spring among the GC contenders won by race leader Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo).

Roglič held off numerous attempts by Team Sky's Egan Bernal, stage three winner, to hold his lead. He won the sprint for second place and gained bonus seconds, now standing eight ahead of the 21-year-old Colombian with what should be an insignificant stage on Sunday.

"Everything worked out really good today," Fuglsang said. "The others were more concerned for the overall classification, for me it was about the stage. I could go all in for the stage and it was to my advantage today."

Fuglsang, who is leading a purple patch for Astana, attacked with under 20 kilometres to race. He left behind a group with Roglič, Bernal, Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and Richie Porte (BMC Racing), who seemed to be suffering more than the others at times.

"Roglič is a good friend of mine, I hope that he'd at least sit back when I attacked. I saw on the climb that Bernal and Roglič were fighting each other so much and were so tired. I just worried about Costa closing to me," Fuglsang continued

"This win is a big thing for me, I had a long period without a win since the Dauphiné last year. I had good form this year, but I haven't won anything. So to finish this part of the season with a victory is great, I'm really happy with it."

Fuglsang jumped up 11 places in the overall from 15th to fourth with his gains. The other four were concentrated on each other, however, with the 149.2km stage around Sion the last major mountain day.

Roglič defended his spot, but so did Bernal in second overall, Porte in third at 35 seconds and Costa in fifth at 1-23 minutes. Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) slipped from fourth to sixth when the fireworks went off.

Bernal tried on several occasions to dislodge the Slovenian leader, with Roglič also countering at times. Australian Richie Porte drifted, but he and Costa rejoined for the descent to the finish.

How it happened

Brit Hugh Carthy (EF Education First-Drapac) joined the early escape group with Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Tanel Kangert (Astana) and Mathias Frank (Ag2r La Mondiale) to make five. However Carthy, Nieve and stage two winner De Gendt swiftly dropped the others on the first climb and continued as a trio.

Carthy gained the maximum mountain points on the first climb of fiv before. Andrey Amador (Movistar) and Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida) joined the trio to make five again. They held 2-15 minutes with 85km to race andnd 2-25 at 70km to go.

Carlos Betancur (Movistar) and Omar Fraile (Astana) abandoned. Carthy kept driving, taking the maximum mountain points on the third climb before De Gendt took the honours on the fourth climb.

Team Sky had been riding pace behind for Bernal and closed down the last remaining escapees on the last climb up Collons, at 1796m in altitude.

David De La Cruz led ahead of Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas in the early moments. In the final 35km, Bernal began launching a series of attacks, but nothing could shake 28-year-old Roglič. Over the top of the final climb and just 28km remained down to the finish where Fuglsang took the win and Roglič the bonus seconds for second place.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2018, stage four: Sion to Sion, 149.2km

1. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, in 4-18-48

2. Primož Roglič (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 48 secs

3. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky, at same time

4. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at same time

5. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing, at 50 secs

6. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, at 2-09

7. Pierre Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale

8. Jaime Roson (Esp) Movistar

9. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

10. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data

General classification after stage four

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, in 12-59-09

2. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky, at 8 secs

3. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing, at 35 secs

4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 1-16

5. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-23

6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1-32

7. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, at 2-32

8. Pierre Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 2-49

9. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 3-09

10. Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates, at 3-12

Egan Bernal (Team Sky) produced an exceptional ride to beat his more experienced GC rivals in an uphill time trial on stage three of the Tour de Romandie.

The stage looked to belong to Richie Porte (BMC Racing) after the Australian powered to a time of 25-28 on the nine kilometre course, putting half a minute into then-leader Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).

However Bernal overturned a deficit at the intermediate split to beat Porte's time by 18 seconds on the line, with his time of 25-10 being enough to give him the stage win.

The only remaining man who could come close to Bernal's time was race leader Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo) who actually covered the second half of the course quicker than the young Colombian, but was unable to overturn his deficit from the intermediate split.

Roglič crossed the line just four seconds behind Bernal on the day, a result which means that he remains in the yellow jersey but sees his lead cut to just six seconds to Bernal.

How it happened

Stage three of the Tour de Romandie saw the riders face a nasty 9.9mk uphill time trial from Ollon to the ski resort of Villars, with almost all of the riders opting for a standard road bike over a time trial bike.

Michael Storer (Team Sunweb) was the early front runner with a time of 27-44 which stood for nearly an hour until Matteo Fabbro (Katusha-Alpecin) put in a storming ride to knock 26 seconds off Storer's time.

However, Fabbro's time didn't stand for long as he was beaten first by Kristijan Durasek (UAE Team Emirates) and then by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), before Simon Spilak became the first rider to go under 27 minutes with a time of 26-53.

As Spilak finished the top 10 were starting to roll off the ramp at the bottom of the mountain, with Richie Porte (BMC Racing) making a rare equipment choice as he opted for a standard road bike with clip-on TT bars.

Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) was the next rider to take to the hot seat as he put in a stellar performance to catch minute-man Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott) and clock a time of 26-38, but he didn't remain in the lead for long as Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) produced a strong ride to go under 26 minutes with a 25-58.

However, halfway down the course Porte was looking smooth as he went faster the Kruijswijk at the intermediate time check, and only got faster from there as he put half a minute into the Dutchman with a time of 25-28.

That looked like it would be the best time of the day, but Egan Bernal (Team Sky) was in touch at the intermediate split just nine seconds behind Porte, and the set a blistering pace up the second half to eclipse Port's time by a massive 18 seconds.

In the end that time would be good enough for Bernal to win the stage, but the Colombian still had a few nervy moments as final finisher and race leader Primož Roglič came within sight of the finish with the clock still ticking towards Bernal's time.

However, Roglič did not quite have enough in the tank, and he eventually finished four seconds down, a result that gave Bernal the stage win but ensured that Roglič remained in the yellow jersey heading into Saturday's queen stage.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2018, stage three: Ollon to Villars, 9.9km (ITT)

1. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky, in 25-10.7

2. Primož Roglič (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 4 secs

3. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing, at 18 secs

4. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 48 secs

5. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-06

6. Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at 1-21

7. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, at 1-25

8. Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-28

9. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-30

10. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin, at 1-43

General classification after stage three

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, in 8-39-39

2. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky, at 6 secs

3. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing, at 27 secs

4. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1-02

5. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-17

6. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, at 1-22

7. Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at same time

8. Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-42

9. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at same time

10. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-55

Richie Porte (BMC Racing) overhauled Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) on the final time trial of the Tour de Romandie to win the race overall, while Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) took the stage win.

With Porte the stronger time triallist, but Yates holding a 19 second advantage after winning stage four, it looked likely to be a tight race for overall victory.

However the BMC Racing rider had already overhauled Yates by the intermediate time check midway along the course where he was 33 seconds faster.

The difference between the two was less stark over the generally downhill second half of the course, but Porte was able to extend his lead by a little more, eventually crossing the line in a time 48 seconds faster than Yates, taking the overall win by 21 seconds.

Meanwhile the stage win went to Slovenian time trial champion Primoz Roglic, who produced a time eight seconds faster than Porte, which also moved him onto the podium in the general classification.

The early stages of the hilly final time trial around Lausanne saw a quick succession of changes at the top of the leaderboard as Victor Campanaerts (LottoNL-Jumbo), Stefan Küng (BMC Racing), Johan Le Bon (FDJ), and Lennard Kamna (Team Sunweb) all set fastest times in quick succession.

However the first man to spend any length of time in the hotseat was Andrey Amador (Movistar), with the Costa Rican setting a time of 25-33 over the 18.3km course.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) was the next big name rider to cross the line, setting what was then the third best time, 12 seconds back from Amador.

However it was Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing) who was looking in good form ahead of the Giro d'Italia (which features two prominent time trials) going faster than Amador at the intermediate time check at the top of the course's single climb, and edging out Amador by a single second at the finish.

By the time Van Garderen had finished, both Porte and Yates, the two real contenders for the overall title, had both rolled off the start list.

Yates had an advantage of 19 seconds going into the stage, but that had disappeared entirely by the intermediate checkpoint, where Porte set the fastest time of the day, 33 seconds faster than Yates.

As Yates and Porte settled into the second half of the time trial, Roglic was crossing the line, setting a scintillating 24-58, knocking an astonishing 34 seconds of Van Garderen's time.

Always a strong time triallist, Porte looked the most likely to challenge Roglic's time, but eventually had to settle for second with a time of 25-06, eight seconds slower than Roglic.

Results

Tour de Romandie 2017, stage five: Lausanne to Lausanne (18.3km, ITT)

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, in 24-58

2. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing, at 8 secs

3. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, at 34 secs

4. Ion Izaguirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 34 secs

5. Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 34 secs

6. Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar, at 35 secs

7. Jonathan Castroviejo (Esp) Movistar, at 41 secs

8. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb, at 42 secs

9. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at 46 secs

10. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 46 secs

Final General Classification

1. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing, in 17-16-00

2. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott, at 21 secs

3. Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 26 secs

4. Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 51 secs

5. Ion Izaguirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-03

6. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, at 1-16

7. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 1-21

8. Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-22

9. Jesus Herrada (Esp) Movistar, at 1-22

10. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-24

Others

18. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at 1-55