The first stage in the Tour de Romandie is a very flat prologue in the streets of Ascona, on the shore of the Lago Maggiore. The prologues have become very rare lately in the World Tour stage races, making this one of the few in the season. The weather outlook is not very nice on the riders with rain expected at times over the Swiss town. That might affect the timesheet as the route have many twists and turns and a wet race makes it more dangerous to ride.
Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff) was the first rider with a chance on the fight for the stage that started today. Only a handful of riders had started before the British but Denis Menchov had already set a reference time. Thomas easily improved on that time to set a 7' 27'' which was 5 seconds better than the best time so far. Thomas had a quite disappointing cobbles season and it will be a hard season for him from now on as there are not many races where he can shine from now onwards.
The ITT World Champion, Cameron Meyer (Trek), was also very early on the road. The Australian, who has not won a stage this year so far, clearly beat Thomas' time by a 7 seconds margin. Meyer was, along with David Millar, the clear favorite to take the stage win today. He would also like to put as much time as possible on the climbers as with only one mountain stage and another time trial he could well be a contender for at least a top 10 at the end of the race.
The next rider among the favorites to start was Meyer's biggest threat, David Millar (HTC). The British was very efficient and managed to grab the best time so far with a margin of only 1 second over Meyer. Millar had already won the last stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico, another time trial. He was quickly becoming one of the referent riders when it came to time trials. HTC also has Levi Leipheimer among the favorites for today's stage and they brought a very strong team to Romandie.
The other HTC rider that should have done well in this prologue was Levi Leipheimer. However, it had started to rain when the American took part in the stage and his time was a bit far off the pace. Nevertheless, he took the 6th provisional position losing 12 seconds against his teammate. Leipheimer does not have any results this season so far and will skip the Giro d'Italia to focus on the second part of the season.
Tony Martin (Lotto) was also affected by the rain and his performance was a bit worse than expected. He lost 13 seconds against David Millar and grabbed the 9th provisional position in the stage. Martin has improved quite considerably in the last couple of seasons but seems to be among the second tier of riders against the clock. The German is a very useful rider for the leaders of the Belgian team but his day to shine might come sooner or later.
The rain had stopped by the time the last riders took part in the prologue. Marco Pinotti was the last man to start for Etixx and their leader for the race. The Italian was 4th when he crossed the finish line, only 10 seconds slower than David Millar, which put him ahead of all the rest of the climbers. He has already been 10th in the Tirreno - Adriatico this year and he might even improve on that result in the Tour de Romandie.
Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) won this same time trial last year but even though he seems a much better rider this year it was not meant to be and could only be 7th provisionally when he crossed the finish line. The Norwegian is preparing the Giro d'Italia as well and might well have a couple of opportunities to add stage wins to his tally for the year. Nevertheless, Euskaltel have stated that they view Romandie as a preparation race towards other objectives in the year.
The last rider that might have a chance to take the stage win was Marcel Kittel (Astana). The German sprinter is the undisputable leader of the Astana team and occasionally riders the prologues very well. Today was a very good day for him as, even if he could not snatch the win he set the 3rd best time 6 seconds behind David Millar. If he survives the lat climb of the day tomorrow he might even have a shot at the leader's jersey at some point in the race.
Our winner of the day was David Millar, who takes his second win in a time trial this year. The British will probably have a hard time at the mountainous stage on day 4 but he might well survive as leader of the race until then. Cameron Meyer's result was very good and gives him a good cushion over the climbers, while Jerome Coppel and Marco Pinotti were the best riders among those that should stay among the best in the climbs.
The second stage of the Tour de Romandie will take the riders along the Rhone river valley to the town of Sion. Before getting there the riders will have to pass through the huge Simplonpass, which goes from the Italian town of Domodossola and the Swiss of Brig. However, it will not have a big impact as its top is 117 kilometers from the finish line. Once the riders get to Sion, they will have a 37 kilometers long loop which includes the irregular climb to the Col de Lens. A solo attack looks unlikely to succeed but the group that makes it to the finish should not be very big.
The break of the day was formed at the first attempt today. A group of 5 riders was allowed to go straight away. Its members were Bradley Wiggins (Lotto), Andrea Guardini (Astana), Rigoberto Uran (Cofidis), Tom Danielson (LottoNL) and Franco Pellizotti (BMC). They got to the top of the Simplonpass with an advantage over the main bunch of 6' 15''. However, even with 120 kilometers to go HTC was controlling the pace in the bunch and not letting them take a big advantage that they have trouble recovering later in the stage.
HTC made it clear that they wanted no surprises with the break and pushed hard at the front of the pack through the Rhone valley. The first intermediate sprint of the day was at Uvrier, 43 kilometers to the finish line. The gap of the front group had decreased to 1' 40'' at that point. David Millar surprisingly sprinted for points but was easily beaten by Alexander Kristoff. Geraint Thomas also sprinted. The way from Brig to Sion was quite fast, taking advantage of the gentle downhill.
As the riders went through the first passage through the finish line in Sion, Jurgen van den Broeck took the lead of the bunch for Cannondale. He increased the pace at the first part of the climb before being relieved by Quickstep's Janez Brajkovic and Giovanni Visconti. The climb to Lens is very irregular from this side Bradley Wiggins attacked from the break and was riding solo with 15 seconds on the rest of the break and 1' 35'' on the group of the favorites. Nevertheless, with 33 kilometers still to go and 14 to the top of the climb anything could still happen.
Laurens Ten Dam was the first of the favorites to attack and he did it quite soon, almost 30 kilometers from the finish line. He caught up with the break rather quickly but it was a fight of his own and Ben Hermans, who tried to follow at first, gave up trying. Bauke Mollema also managed to get to the front group but the gaps were very small, only 20 seconds from th front of the race to the bunch. Quickstep was trying to keep the race in control with Janez Brajkovic and Giovanni Visconti but the latter crashed in the tricky roads towards Lens.
The attacks were much more consistent as the top of the climb got closer. Rob Ruijgh was leading the race within the last kilometer of the climb, 19 to the finish line. He had 15 seconds on Cofidis' Igor Anton and 40 seconds on the group of the leader. Mathias Frank and Michele Scarponi had featured in a number of break attempts but had been unsuccessful. Sky started to collaborate with HTC at the front as the American team was losing riders fast. Even Andrew Talansky had to take his turn at the front to bring back some of the attackers.
Peter Sagan took advantage of the lack of control at the front of the group of favorites right after the descent of the Col de Lens and attacked to chase Rob Ruijgh and Igor Anton. The Spaniard had been close to catch Ruijgh in the descent but once they were in the flat seemed unable to chase. With 8 kilometers to go Ruijgh had 20 seconds on Anton, 35 on Sagan and 50 seconds on the group of the leader, where 55 riders were together. Sky seemed to be the only team organizing a chase.
The chase was not very hard and another group of riders: Laurens Ten Dam, Ben Hermans and Joost van Leijen, tried to gain a few seconds at the finish line. They caught up to Igor Anton but were reeled back in by Sky and Vacansoleil. Peter Sagan had reached up to Anton and left him behind after the second intermediate sprint in Uvrier. At the 2 kilometers mark Ruijgh was only 10 seconds ahead of the Slovakian. Meanwhile, it was clear that David Millar was going to lose his leader's jersey. Among those left behind in the climb were Giovanni Visconti, who had crashed, Levi Leipheimer and Miguel Rubiano.
Peter Sagan was about to catch up to Rob Ruijgh at the last corner of the stage but with less than 1 kilometer remaining it was going to be a close call. If the Slovakian joins the leader he is a way better sprinter. Bauke Mollema also tried to put a few seconds over the rest of the favorites and was riding 20 seconds ahead of them already in the last kilometer of the stage. Igor Anton and Laurens Ten Dam were leading the group of the favorites but other should also sprint for the stage positions.
Rob Ruijgh wins in Sion! The Dutch is a rider that has a lot of trouble winning and he had not done it since he took the overall win in the 2013 Giro d'Italia. Not even in the Vuelta 2014, where he was 2nd could he get a stage win. Peter Sagan gave it all in the final push to catch Ruijgh but he had to settle for the 2nd place in the stage. However, not everything is bad for him as given the gaps behind the winner the Slovakian is the new leader of the race.
Bauke Mollema managed to cross the finish line ahead of the group of the leader and 18 seconds behind Ruijgh. David Millar's group lost 36 seconds, led by Joost van Leijen and Chris Froome. Sky was clearly very interested in Froome keeping up with the best in the stage. They think that this is a good chance for a win in a stage race. Tomorrow's stage will be quite easier and a more or less big sprint is expected so the battle for the GC will probably have to wait for Friday.
Today's stage will be the easiest on the riders that fight for the GC so far in the Tour de Romandie. The riders will head towards Lake Geneva through the valley across Martigny. Once in Montreux, where the stage finishes, they will do a long loop along the hills at the East of the lakeside town that includes the climbs to Chatel St-Denis and Peney-le-Jorat. Even though the stage is tough for it to be classified flat a mass sprint is the most likely outcome of the day.
There were almost 40 kilometers of chasing between riders willing to join the break and the peloton before a group of 4 settled at the front of the race. It was a hint of the possibilities that a break made it to the finish line ahead of the bunch. The members of the break were Marcus Burghardt (Giant), Christophe Riblon (Cofidis), Julian Alaphilippe (Ag2r) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Discovery). At the first intermediate sprint, in Semsales, they had a gap of 5' 20'' but the main bunch was already chasing. Trek, Astana and Cannondale were leading the group with still 77 kilometers to go. On the sprint for the points Marcel Kittel was faster than Peter Sagan and Joost van Leijen.
Nicolas Roche led the peloton through the climb to Peney-le-Jorat from Cannondale followed by Yoann Offredo and Bradley Wiggins. The gap to the break was still 3' 20'', probably too much considering that the remaining 44 kilometers of the stage were mostly downhill and in roads that are not suitable for a peloton to chase easily. The route of the second part of the stage was plagued with small hills and descents that make the riding very uncomfortable. More than one sprinter will probably make it to the end too tired to fight for the stage.
Luis Leon Sanchez attacked from the break in the final descent towards Montreux and had a small gap of 20 seconds over the rest of the early break with 9 kilometers to go. The main bunch was still losing 1 minute so a stage win might still be in the cards for the Spaniard rider. Unfortunately for him the last few kilometers of the stage are the best suited for the peloton to chase and Astana have put most of the team to work for Marcel Kittel. Lotto was still collaborating but it was not clear who would sprint for them, Andre Greipel or Michael Matthews.
Astana was the only team mildly organized with 3 kilometers to go but they still had to catch Luis Leon Sanchez, who had a 12 seconds advantage over the main bunch. Grega Bole, Davide Rebellin and Marcel Kittel were the three Astana riders leading the bunch. The final kilometers of the stage were really entertaining as the peloton chased down the rest of the members of the break first and then Sanchez. Among the sprinters that were well positioned at that point were Alexander Kristoff, Elia Viviani, Michael Matthews and Matthew Goss. The sprinters that handle better the hills were going to have an advantage today.
Elia Viviani led the sprint with 1 kilometer to go once Luis Leon Sanchez was swallowed by the bunch. However, the Italian started to sprint a bit too far from the finish line. Matthew Goss was on his wheel and enjoying a good tow. On their right Davide Rebellin was doing a good lead out job for Marcel Kittel and they were almost on par with Viviani. A bit further back were Michael Matthews and Andre Greipel, who had made it to the front and was the first choice for Lotto in the sprints. Peter Sagan was also in the mix for the win that he could not get yesterday.
Peter Sagan was very strong in the early part of the sprint and took the lead once Elia Viviani expectedly faded away. Sagan was closely followed by Matthew Goss, who was starting to gain on him. Tony Gallopin was the fastest on the right-hand side of the road and looked threatening for the win. He was closely followed by Marcel Kittel and Michael Matthews. The road was very crowded with only 500 meters to go and the stage win was still very unpredictable.
Matthew Goss wins in Montreux! This is not only the first win of the year for the Australian rider, but the first win of his entire career. The Movistar rider had had a few good positions in stages in the past but had never tasted the feeling of a win. This will be a big confidence boost for Movistar, who are not performing that well this season so far. The second place went to Alexander Kristoff, who won in Montreux last year. The Norwegian was again very close to the win but could not make it happen today.
Marcel Kittel was finally 3rd after all the effort that Astana put on the chase. The top 5 was completed by Tony Gallopin and Peter Sagan, who faded away in the last few meters of the sprint. All in all, the stage was quite entertaining and rather eventful for a stage with no impact on the GC. Tomorrow will be a very different day as the riders will have to face 4 very tough climbs in the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie.
The fourth is the queen stage of the 2016 Tour de Romandie and the only mountainous edition of the Swiss race. The riders will be travelling around the same area that they did yesterday, to the south of the Lake Geneva. The 180 kilometers of the stage have 4 categorized climbs, all 1st category. The stage is hard enough to generate significant gaps among the best riders at the end of the day, although this very same stage last year was rather disappointing. The climbers should try to put as much time on the better time trialists to have a shot at the GC.
The break of the day was already settled at the Col des Plaches, the first climb of the day. The group of 7 riders had among its members Simon Spilak (Tinkoff), Jure Kocjan (Katusha), Damiano Caruso (Cannondale), Richie Porte (Orica) and Alberto Contador (Discovery). The top of the Col des Plaches, a really tough climb with an average gradient close to 9%, was 125 kilometers from the finish line. The gap had already grown to 5 minutes but the bunch was in no real rush to cut it back. However, their chances of making it to the finish line were rather slim given that Spilak was only 49 seconds back in the GC.
Vincenzo Nibali led the main bunch over the second climb of the day, the Col de Champex-Lac, ahead of Igor Anton. There were quite a few riders interested in the KoM points but the riders in the break were going to accumulate a lot today. As an example, Simon Spilak was first in both Plaches and Champex-Lac. On the descent of Planches Denis Menchov crashed and the whole Katusha team had to wait for him to bring him back to the pack. The pace was still not too hard but Trek and HTC were already putting riders to work and a few riders dropped off the back of the pack. However, they will probably join back in the flat towards the last two climbs.
Halfway through the climb to Les Giettes the battle had already started among the important riders in the GC. Vincenzo Nibali was the first rider to attack and he was quickly joined by Robert Gesink, Mathias Frank and Davide Rebellin. They were only 45 seconds behind the early break with 52 kilometers remaining. Jose Serpa and Igor Anton were in an intermediate position but the main bunch was not reacting to the attacks so far. It was surprising to see riders like Gesink and Frank attack from this far out. Trek was setting a pace but they needed it to be comfortable enough for Sagan to hold on among the best.
A group of 4 riders was leading the race at the top of Les Giettes: Vincenzo Nibali, Mathias Frank, Robert Gesink and Simon Spilak. The Slovenian was the only rider from the break that managed to hold on with the riders coming from behind. With 46 kilometers remaining they still had a long way to go but the gaps were significant. Kanstantsin Siutsou had jumped from the bunch and was losing 2' 35'' at the top but the bunch was still 4 minutes behind. Trek was no longer setting the pace and it was Roman Kreuziger leading the group of the leader for LottoNL.
The climb to Villars-sur-Ollon started and Chris Froome had no time to lose. The British attacked from the bottom in order to have time to catch up to the front of the race. The peloton had cut back on the lead in the flat between the two climbs and with 24 kilometers remaining, 8 of them uphill, the different group had completely broken apart. Davide Rebellin was alone leading the race with 15 seconds on Robert Gesink and 30'' on Mathias Frank. Chris Froome was 1' 10'' behind followed by a group of 5 including Cameron Meyer, Marco Pinotti and Andrew Talansky. The leader was still losing around 3 minutes.
4 kilometers before the top of the last climb of the day Davide Rebellin was still leading but his immediate chaser was now Chris Froome, quickly cutting back the lead to 25 seconds. 50 seconds behind Rebellin was a group of 6 riders, including Robert Gesink, Bauke Mollema and Andrew Talansky. Mathias Frank and Cameron Meyer had not been able to stay with that group and were dropping back. A bit more than 2 minutes behind was Peter Stetina's group. The American had waited too much to follow many of the favorites in the GC and would have trouble to catch them back.
Bauke Mollema came from behind to join Chris Froome and Davide Rebellin right at the top of the climb to Villars-sur-Ollon. The leading riders had 16 kilometers to go from the top, mostly descent towards Aigle. They had only 35 seconds at the top with the first group of chasers: Andrew Talansky, Cadel Evans, Jerome Coppel and Marco Pinotti. On paper, Davide Rebellin should be the best rider among those at the front in the descent but it remained to be seen whether he would try to make an attack.
The chasing group reduced the gap to the leaders to 25 seconds at the bottom of the descent towards Aigle. They only had 4 kilometers to the finish line to chase them back. The stage seemed to be among the three leaders. Robert Gesink, who was only marginally behind this group at the top, lost quite a bit of time in the descent and was swallowed by the following group. It was surprising that Laurens Ten Dam stayed in the bunch and lost all his chances of a good GC today.
The 4 chasers finally joined the leaders of the race and the group of 7 would fight for the stage in the streets of Aigle. Bauke Mollema was the first to start the final sprint and Davide Rebellin was the only one that seemed to have the legs to chase him. They were followed by Chris Froome, Andrew Talansky and Marco Pinotti already in the last kilometer of the stage. Mollema had already won this same stage last year although the group that made it to the finish was considerably larger.
Bauke Mollema wins in Aigle! The Dutch wins the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie as he had already done last year. This is his first win of the season. Davide Rebellin and Andrew Talansky followed him across the line. The stage win is not the only prize that Mollema takes today as he is also the new leader of the race with a 20 seconds advantage over Marco Pinotti and Jerome Coppel. The 18 seconds that he managed to grab in Sion against the rest of the favorites could prove crucial.
The top 5 of the stage was completed by Marco Pinotti and Jerome Coppel, the chasers of Mollema in the GC. The second group lost 1' 07'' at the finish line, which means that with only 2 stages remaining the winner of the race should come from one of the 7 riders that are currently at the front of the classification. Tomorrow will be a much easier day for the riders but a mass sprint is not guaranteed in a rather tricky finish.
The penultimate stage in the Tour de Romandie is not so hard on the favorites for the GC. The route will be a 30 kilometers circuit around the town of Fribourg that will be raced 6 times. However, even though the stage is classified as flat it is not at all clear that a mass sprint will happen. The climb to Ependes can cause some problems to the sprinters and there is a small climb to Fribourg from the river at around 1 kilometer to the finish line that has gradients up to 8%.
The break of the day was formed by 5 riders: Fabio Aru (BMC), Bryan Coquard (FDJ), Mauro Santambrogio (Sky), Tanel Kangert (HTC) and Sonny Colbrelli (LottoNL). They quickly opened a gap over the main bunch and by the time they were climb to Ependes for the 3rd time it was already 7' 15''. None of the riders in the break was dangerous in the GC so they might even have a chance of taking the stage win. Meanwhile, Cannondale and Astana were leading the bunch but the pace was not too high.
The first intermediate sprint was placed in Marly, 62 kilometers from the finish line but only 3 before the end of the circuit. Marcel Kittel was the fastest in the sprint for the points in the main group, clearly beating Peter Sagan. Astana had pushed quite hard in the approximation to the intermediate sprint and the gap to the break had gone down to 3' 30''. That also had the consequence of leaving the bunch very stretched. A few kilometers before Ben Swift crashed and, even if he rejoined the peloton easily, it might have consequences for his options in the last kilometers.
The stage was a bit more difficult than what it looked on paper and Cameron Meyer decided to have a dig. The Australian attacked just before the penultimate passage through the finish line. With 21 kilometers remaining, shortly before the last climb to Ependes, he had made it to the front group and they had a gap of 55 seconds. Grega Bole, Andrea Guardini and Damiano Caruso were leading the bunch for Astana and Cannondale to cut back the gap. This attack could well change the outcome of the stage if a few of the sprinters suffer in the last categorized climb.
A few other riders tried to join the front group at the climb to Ependes, including Marco Pinotti, Vincenzo Nibali and Tiago Machado. Even Bauke Mollema had to jump to close the gap to some of the attackers as he did not want the race to go out of control. With 12 kilometers to go Cameron Meyer and Mauro Santambrogio were leading the race but their gap had been reduced to 15 seconds over the peloton and it was Laurens Ten Dam chasing for Elia Viviani to have a chance in the sprint.
Cannondale had to do most of the work to control the race and they succeeded to bring everyone together. At the 3 kilometers mark the sprint trains were starting to be formed and the American team was leading the way. Jerome Baugnies was ready to lead Elia Viviani out while Mark Cavendish had the wheel of the Italian. By their side it was Davide Rebellin making Marcel Kittel progress to the front of the race with Tyler Farrar taking advantage of that work. Other sprinters like Alexander Kristoff, Ben Swift and Peter Sagan were also well positioned ahead of the sprint.
Davide Rebellin did a great job to take Marcel Kittel to the small climb that they had to face with 1 kilometer to go. That was the point chosen by the German to launch the final sprint. It might have been a bit too early for him, given that he is not the best over the hills. Additionally, he was dragging Tyler Farrar and Alexander Kristoff right behind. On the other hand, Cannondale's train had fallen apart and Elia Viviani had lost quite a few positions. Peter Sagan and Ben Swift seemed to be the only other riders with a chance.
Marcel Kittel was surprisingly strong over the hill and looked in a perfect position to take the stage with 600 meters to go. Tyler Farrar was starting to fade away as Alexander Kristoff overtook the American. A bit further back Peter Sagan and Ben Swift were cutting back the gap between them and the lead of the race. The pace in the last lap has taken its toll on some riders and the likes of Andre Greipel could not be seen close to the front.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Fribourg! The Norwegian finished really fast to overtake a fading Marcel Kittel and comfortably take the stage win. This is the 3rd win of the season for Kristoff, who is steadily adding wins to try to be the rider with the most wins in the season again this year. On the other hand, Kittel faded so much that the second place in the stage went to Peter Sagan. The Slovakian is out of the picture in pure sprints but whenever there are difficulties in the route he gets much closer.
The top 5 was completed by Ben Swift and Filippo Pozzato. All of the stages in the Tour de Romandie have been very interesting, even those that were meant to finish in a mass sprint. The last stage tomorrow will also be very interesting as the overall win will be fought for in the time trial. Bauke Mollema has a good advantage and is the clear favorite to get back-to-back wins in Romandie but he will have to defend his lead.
The last stage of the Tour de Romandie was a time trial that started and finished in Neuchatel. The stage was 19 kilometers long and, although mostly flat, had the climb to Le Maley halfway through the route. Nevertheless, the time trialists should be the riders fighting for the win of the stage. In terms of the GC, Bauke Mollema is quite good at this kind of stages and is the favorite to take the overall in the Swiss race. However, the fight for the podium is much more difficult to predict.
Levi Leipheimer (HTC) had an awful Tour de Romandie and found himself at the 118th place in the GC before today's stage. Andreas Kloden had set the reference time early in the day but his time was completely destroyed by the American, who easily took the lead of the classification improving the German's time in 48 seconds. Leipheimer might have had a difficult time in Switzerland but he might well find a reason to be a bit happier with this performance.
Tony Martin (Lotto) was the other rider not among the top in the GC that had a chance to fight for the stage today. The German has been making progress in recent years in the time trials but is still missing a good result to add to his record. Martin was not too bad today but, even if he got the 2nd provisional time at the finish line, he lost 21 seconds to Levi Leipheimer, which should be a gap that does not allow him to be among the best riders today.
David Millar (HTC) won the prologue in Ascona and today he gave another exhibition of power to take the provisional lead from his teammate. He was a massive 33 seconds quicker than Levi Leipheimer over a route of slightly less than 19 kilometers. Among those riders still remaining it looked like only Cameron Meyer could be a potential threat for the British. Unfortunately for Millar it would be impossible for him to make much progress in the GC as the gaps behind the 15th rider were quite big.
The World Champion, Cameron Meyer (Trek), started the day with the aim of winning the stage and getting in the top 10 of the GC at the end of the race. The Australian had not won a time trial this year so far and today it was not his day either. Nevertheless, the feeling at the finish line was that even the slightest change of conditions might have stripped him from improving Millar's time as he was only 4 seconds slower at the end of the day. His 2nd target was actually achieved as Meyer went on to finish 9th in the GC.
Cadel Evans (Movistar) was 6th in the GC before the start of the day. The Australian is quite good against the clock but so are the other riders ahead of him in the GC. Evans, who had already been 5th in the GC of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco this year, managed to get only the 7th provisional position in the stage, 48 seconds behind David Millar. It would be difficult for him to gain any positions in the GC but he easily beat Davide Rebellin, who could have threatened his 6th position overall.
The next rider to start was Chris Froome (Sky). The British was targeting the podium or even the win in the GC but it seemed unlikely at that stage. He would probably be happy if he got to the podium after the time trial. Today's stage was actually really good for Froome, who took the 3rd provisional position only behind David Millar and Cameron Meyer. That put him in a threatening position for the podium places given the small gaps between the best riders.
The 4th in the GC before the stage was Andrew Talansky (HTC). The American had not done anything relevant this year before the Tour de Romandie, only the 9th overall position in the Tirreno - Adriatico. However, even though he opt for a podium today he ended up losing 40 seconds to Millar and was overtaken by Chris Froome in the GC, effectively ending his chances of being among the top 3. Nevertheless, it is clear that the form of Talansky has improved and that he can be a factor in the Giro.
It was also an important day for Jerome Coppel (IAM), for whom a podium in the Tour de Romandie would be a very good result. The French is quite good against the clock and but today was not his best performance. His time matched the one that Andrew Talansky had set, 7th in the provisional time sheet. However, it was not enough to hold Chris Froome behind in the general classification so his chances of keeping the podium position are slim. He would need to overtake one of the last 2 riders.
The penultimate rider on the road was Marco Pinotti (Quickstep). The Italian was in the podium of last year's Time Trial World Championships, so he could even give Bauke Mollema troubles to keep his 1st position. His time trial was quite solid but slightly slower than Chris Froome. He was provisionally 4th, 27 seconds behind David Millar. This puts into perspective the outstanding performance by Froome, who was only 1 second away from taking the position in the GC from Pinotti.
Given Marco Pinotti's time, Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) would need a result inside the top 10 to retain the leader's jersey and take the Tour de Romandie for a second year in a row. In the end it was not so difficult for the Dutch, who finished 5th in the stage 32 seconds behind David Millar. His win in the race was never in doubt but his winning margin was quite small at only 15 seconds over Pinotti and 16 over Chris Froome.
The stage win went again to David Millar, who has already won 3 time trials this year and might become the benchmark for the discipline if he continues in the same way. Cameron Meyer was only 4 seconds slower but will have to keep looking for the kind of shape that won him the rainbow jersey last year. All in all the Tour de Romandie was a very entertaining race that also served to see who is going to be where in the Giro.
