Former team-mates Chris Froome and Richie Porte will go head-to-head in a stage race for the first time since last year’s Tour de France at the Tour de Romandie, which starts on Tuesday.
The two men who rode together at Team Sky are the star names on a start list slightly lacking in other big general classification contenders as the likes of Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali prepare for the Giro d’Italia.
Froome, who won the race in 2013 and 2014, has had a mixed start to the season, picking up a second place finish on a summit finish in the Volta a Catalunya, but failing to make an impact on the general classification after losing nearly 27 minutes on the penultimate stage.
Watch: Chris Froome – how I won the 2016 Tour de France
Meanwhile BMC Racing‘s Porte also suffered from time losses on flat stages in his last race outing at Paris-Nice, but appeared assured in the mountains, winning the race’s queen stage up the Col de la Couillole.
Away from Sky and BMC, Katusha-Alpecin will head into the race with two former Romandie winners in Ilnur Zakarin and Simon Spilak, while other riders who could potentially shake-up an expected Froome vs Porte showdown including Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb), and the impressive Primoz Roglic.
The Tour de Romandie will start on Tuesday, April 25 with a prologue time trial in Aigle, and finish five days later with another slightly longer time trial in Lausanne. The key stages of the race appear to be the summit finishes on stages one and four
