2.28km in 2:55: The Tour de Romandie prologue which was over in a flash
Majority of riders opted for road bikes on technical course around the Swiss city of Payerne


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.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
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.
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.
-
'It's a shame it had to end like this' - Giro d'Italia stage 6 finale affected by protestors
Breakaway of Taco van der Hoorn and Enzo Paleni was held up by two protestors in Naples
-
Kaden Groves wins crash-marred Giro d’Italia stage 6 in Naples
Australian comes out on top in bunch sprint after chaotic day in Italy
-
Remco Evenepoel powers to 'almost perfect' time trial victory as João Almeida wins Tour de Romandie overall
World and Olympic champion wins stage by 12 seconds on final day
-
'I'm not even sure my coaches know my limits' - British cycling sensation Matthew Brennan wins again
Teenager claims third WorldTour victory of the season and takes leader's jersey at Tour de Romandie
-
'I only found out I was coming to this race yesterday' - Sam Watson claims first WorldTour win in 3.4km Tour de Romandie prologue
Brit wins by just three tenths of a second to take leader's jersey
-
'I mainly want to make progress' - Remco Evenepoel motivated for Tour de Romandie aboard new golden bike but plays down expectations
Belgian still on the comeback trail after December crash and a tough day out at last weekend's Liège
-
‘A perfect week for us’ – Adam Yates wraps up overall title in Romandie
Briton will now turn his focus to preparing for the Tour de France
-
‘We’re back to winning ways again’ - Ethan Vernon doubles up for Soudal Quick-Step at Tour de Romandie
The Brit surged to victory in a bunch sprint on stage one
-
Scot, Shackley bounces back to the best results of her career
The SDWorx rider suffered concussion and a bout of COVID but closed her season with excellent excellent performances in the mountains
-
'This isn’t hard you know': Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio outclasses Annemiek van Vleuten at the Tour of Romandie
The South African rider takes her first WorldTour victory on the stage two mountaintop finish at Thyon 2000