Gilbert , I'm disappointed in you !

The Fleche Wallonne is the second race in the week of the Ardennes. The race takes place in the Wallonie, the southern part of Belgium and always finishes at the top of the Mur de Huy, although the route changes slightly every year. This time the route will be the same that was raced last year. The Mur de Huy will be climbed 3 times but it is always difficult that the race is broken before the final climb. The route has some scattered climbs in the final part but they are not hard enough.

The defending champion in Huy is Emanuele Sella. The Italian was a surprising winner last year but he has confirmed his good performances lately with a win in the Tirreno - Adriatico. Nevertheless, he is not among the favorites this year. The other winners of the race, Dries Devenyns and Janez Brajkovic seem to be past their best years. On the other hand, Bjorn Leukemans was 2nd twice in 2011 and 2012 but could well manage to win his first Fleche Wallonne today.

Favorites:

- Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Soudal): Jelle Vanendert was the leader of Lotto in the Amstel Gold Race but when the riders reached the Cauberg it was Bjorn Leukemans that had to respond to the attacks and grabbed the 3rd place in the podium. Vanendert had stated that his fitness should be improving throughout the week and he has the perfect chance to prove it in the Fleche Wallonne. However, he does not seem like the rider most benefited by a finish like the one in Huy.
- Philippe Gilbert (Trek Factory Racing): Gilbert had a performance similar to the one by Vanendert. The Trek rider managed to be the strongest in his attack in the Keutenberg but when he tried to go solo on the Cauberg he just could not do it. In the end he only managed a 6th position, slightly disappointing for him. Unlike Vanendert, the finish in Huy should favor Gilbert's chances given his hills and acceleration.
- Simone Ponzi (Team Katusha): Simone Ponzi might have a Milano - Sanremo under his belt but in general the Italian performs better when the races are not that long and the Fleche Wallonne is a bit less than 200 kilometers long. Last weekend he had quite a good race in the Amstel Gold Race and even managed to follow Philippe Gilbert's attack. However, when the final sprint for the line started he was just out of energy even though he should have been the quickest of the group on paper.
- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Soudal): One can never count Bjorn Leukemans out of the top positions of a hilly race. Even when the leader of the Lotto team might be Jelle Vanendert, like on the Netherlands, Leukemans came to the rescue and grabbed the third place in the podium for the Belgian team. However, even though he has been twice in the podium of Huy it does not look like the Fleche Wallonne is the best race for Leukemans and he will surely be waiting for La Doyenne.

Other riders with a chance to win the race are Joost van Leijen (Team Giant - Alpecin), Rui Costa (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Frank Schleck (Etixx - Quickstep), Davide Rebellin (Astana Pro Team), Michael Matthews (Lotto - Soudal) and Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel - Euskadi).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2011	Janez Brajkovic	Bjorn Leukemans	Dries Devenyns
2012	Dries Devenyns	Bjorn Leukemans	Simon Gerrans
2015	Emanuele Sella	Jelle Vanendert	Hubert Dupont

Startlist

Gilbert all the way for me

Is everyone following the story rooting for Gilbert to take one of the Ardennes classics?

Charleroi - Huy



The three passages through the Mur de Huy are the biggest difficulties in the 197 kilometer Fleche Wallonne. The race is hilly but probably not enough to prevent quite a big group to reach the bottom of the last climb to Huy. The last loop of 35 kilometers is the most interesting part of the race as it includes the climbs to the Cote d'Amay and the Cote de Villers-le-Bouillet. Those should filter the peloton a bit and probably a couple of attackers will take advantage of the hills.



Only 3 riders formed the break of the day: Lars Bak (Cofidis), Ramunas Navardauskas (IAM) and Samuel Dumoulin (LottoNL). Several teams were not willing to allow a big group to go in the first kilometers of the stage and the group of 3 soon opened a gap that grew to 7 minutes with 120 kilometers to go. They had just climbed the Mur de Huy for the first time but this far from the finish line it was a non event for the peloton. The break was not dangerous and no team was chasing yet.



There were quite a few teams with riders at the front of the pack, which made the gap of the break decrease to 4' 10'' with 60 kilometers remaining. There were a few decent riders at the front, including Lloyd Mondory, Rein Taaramae and Rinaldo Nocentini but they were not riding very hard and the pace was comfortable for the riders in the bunch. The weak break was not putting any stress on the peloton. This pace might probably mean that the differences among riders will not be that big towards the last kilometers.



At the climb before the 2ns passage through the Mur de Huy the gap of the break still was above 3 minutes. The Fleche Wallonne route was not hard enough to make a selection in the peloton and mostly everyone was still holding on to the pace even though Michael Matthews had started to put a harder pace at the front of the pack. He was followed by BMC's Emanuele Sella and Eros Capecchi. Wout Poels, the leader for Vacansoleil in the race, had crashed and was slightly injured.



Michael Matthews was the first across the finish line at the second climb to the Mur de Huy. BMC was also committed to make the race harder but even with the hard climb only a few riders dropped from the back of the pack. Jelle Vanendert and Simone Ponzi were the favorites that were closer to the front of the group, clearly showing that they will be aware of every move that happens at the front. The gap to the break was dropping faster at this point and it was only 1' 25''.



The last loop around Huy was considerably harder than the rest of the race. The first hill was 19 kilometers from the finish line, the Cote d'Amay. We had hoped for attacks in this climb already but only Ben Hermans tested the group but was soon reeled back in by the army of Lotto and BMC riders that were at the front of the pack. Among those controlling the pace were last year's winner, Emanuele Sella, Kanstantsin Siutsou and Bradley Wiggins. They had the early break directly in front of them.



The attacks from important riders finally started at the Cote de Villers-le-Bouillet. Rui Costa was the first to jump from the group, while Davide Rebellin and Frank Schleck followed. However, the Italian was the only one that remained ahead of the group of favorites at the top of the climb. He had a gap of 25 seconds. Jelle Vanendert surprisingly jumped behind Rebellin almost at the top of the climb. He seems to be lacking cold blood as an attack like this probably cost him his chances in the Amstel Gold Race. Joost van Leijen and Philippe Gilbert were leading the pack to bring them back.



The attackers did not go anywhere and the peloton started the Mur de Huy in one big group. However, Jelle Vanendert was again very keen to attack and quickly opened a gap as no one was able to follow. With a bit more than 1 kilometer to go he had 20 seconds on Francesco Gavazzi, Michele Scarponi and Davide Rebellin. Dries Devenyns was following close behind while other favorites like Philippe Gilbert and Simone Ponzi had started the climb badly positioned. That might well cost them the race because they have a lot of places to make up for.



When the riders entered the last kilometer of the stage Jelle Vanendert seemed already gone and had opened a gap of 55 seconds over the chasers. The Belgian was really strong and all the others have to do was fight for the second place. Michele Scarponi was leading the sprint for the podium, while Dries Devenyns, Bjorn Leukemans, Alexandre Vinokourov and Davide Rebellin were following. It was surprising to see Vinokourov that strong as he was not among the favorites by far. Among those discarded already for the podium were a few surprises like Joost van Leijen, Philippe Gilbert and Simone Ponzi.



Jelle Vanendert wins in Huy! It was a great show of power by the Belgian, who seemed to be perfectly prepared for the huge gradients of the final climb to the Mur de Huy. He managed to open more than 1 minute over the rest of the riders, which is a massive amount of time in this climb. On the fight for the second place it was Bjorn Leukemans who was the fastest. That made it a Lotto 1-2 in the Belgian race. Another Belgian was in 3rd: Dries Devenyns. The top 5 was completed by Michele Scarponi and Greg van Avermaet.

Bjorn Leukemans seems to have a love affair with the 2nd place in the Fleche Wallone. He has been 2nd in the race three times in the 4 editions that he has participated in. The surprise today is the complete dominance by the Belgian riders. They are clearly the best when it comes to hilly races but putting 4 riders in the top 5 is a massive achievement nonetheless. The other conclusion that we must draw from the race is that Vanendert is a clear favorite for the Liege - Bastogne - Liege while his teammate Leukemans could be the next best rider.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Jelle Vanendert	Lotto - Soudal	4h51'54
2		Björn Leukemans	Lotto - Soudal	+ 1'04
3		Dries Devenyns	BMC Racing Team	+ 1'16
4		Michele Scarponi	Movistar Team	s.t.
5		Greg Van Avermaet	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
6		Alexandre Vinokourov	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
7		Davide Rebellin	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
8		Francesco Gavazzi	Team Cannondale - Garmin	+ 1'33
9		Miguel Rubiano	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 1'41
10		Fränk Schleck	Etixx - Quick·Step	s.t.

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after La Fleche Wallonne)

1		David Lopez	Euskaltel	258.67
2		Björn Leukemans	Lotto	241.67
3		Lloyd Mondory	Quickstep	236.6
4		Simone Ponzi	Katusha	203.86
5		Jelle Vanendert	Lotto	184.12
6		Alexander Kristoff	Euskaltel	152.4
7		Hubert Dupont	Euskaltel	132.88
8		Rui Costa	Ag2r	127.34
9		Emanuele Sella	BMC	116.03
10		Johan Vansummeren	HTC	115.48
11		Andre Greipel	Lotto	102.5
12		Mikel Nieve	Discovery	100
13		Laurens Ten Dam	Cannondale	76.1
14		Mark Renshaw	Discovery	74.55
15		Ben Swift	Vacansoleil	74.3

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after La Fleche Wallonne)

1		Euskaltel - Euskadi	606.95
2		Lotto - Soudal	599.75
3		BMC Racing Team	349.8
4		Etixx - Quickstep	337.55
5		Team Katusha	237.25
6		Discovery Channel	184.4
7		Team Cannondale - Garmin	170.35
8		HTC - Highroad	158.4
9		Astana Pro Team	145.25
10		Ag2r - La Mondiale	139.35
11		Trek Factory Racing	131.8
12		Team LottoNL - Jumbo	129.25
13		Movistar Team	119.5
14		Team Sky	112.05
15		Vacansoleil - DMC	99.3
16		Team Giant - Alpecin	86.5
17		IAM Cycling	84.7
18		Tinkoff - Saxo	62.95

UCI Pro Continental rankings riders (after La Fleche Wallonne)

1		Xavier Tondo	Lampre	80
2		Gregory Rast	Orica	40
3		Christophe Riblon	Cofidis	6
4		Martin Elmiger	Orica	3.3

UCI Pro Continental rankings teams (after La Fleche Wallonne)

1		Lampre - Merida	80
2		Orica - Greenedge	43.3
3		Cofidis, Solutions Credits	6
4		FDJ	0

Belgian 1-2-3

The week in the Ardennes comes to a close with the most important race of the three: the Liege - Bastgone - Liege. The fourth monument of the year marks the finish of the classics season of the sprint. The race is also called La Doyenne, given the very long history of the race, one of the first to be raced in Europe. The route is typically very similar and the 2016 route will be the same the riders tackled last year. The way to Bastogne is not too difficult but the way back has many iconic climbs such as Saint-Roch, La Redoute, La Roche-aux-Faucons and the climb to Saint-Nicholas already in the outskirts of Liege.

The Belgians are the clear dominators of the race so far with 3 wins out of 4 races. Dries Devenyns was the first winner but Bjorn Leukemans holds the record of wins with 2. He has not been below the 2nd position in since 2010. The typical outcome of the race lately is for a rather small group to make it to the bottom of Ans, where the race is typically decided. The fact that the last hill is only 500 meters from the finish line makes for a rather more conservative racing as riders have to make sure that they reach the final climb with energy in their legs.

Favorites:

- Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Soudal): Jelle Vanendert's show of power in the Fleche Wallonne makes him the favorite for the Liege - Bastogne - Liege. The best result for the Belgian in the monument was a 2nd place last year behind his teammate Bjorn Leukemans. The only doubts that one can have on Vanendert is the tendency he has had both in the Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallonne to follow attacks far from the finish line that had little chances of succeeding. That might cost him if he does it in Liege.
- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Soudal): Lotto has plenty to chose from when it comes to the Ardennes classics and they have the top 2 favorites to take their home race. Leukemans has been in the podium twice this week already and has also won the Liege - Bastogne - Liege twice in the past. Therefore, it seems likely that he will be in the mix even if Lotto decide to race for Vanendert. The length of the race is the key factor for Leukemans as he performs better the longer the race is.
- Philippe Gilbert (Trek Factory Racing): Gilbert has been a favorite in all of the Ardennes classics but quite disappointing so far. In the Amstel Gold Race he played the card of attacking first in the Keutenberg and then in the Cauberg but he dragged a big group of riders behind and had no chance. In the Mur de Huy he was just badly positioned ahead of the last climb and did not even make it to the top 10. Therefore, a pretty disappointing week for the Belgian so far that he will have to overturn in Liege.
- Joost van Leijen (Team Giant - Alpecin): The only non-Belgian among the favorites is Joost van Leijen. The Dutch has already won the Amstel Gold Race this week and Giant must be super happy with such a result. The impossible gradient of the Mur de Huy did not seem like his cup of tea but he should be back in force for the Liege - Bastogne - Liege. The problem for him is that he will lack any significant support so he will need to be very aware of the attacks and follow only the important ones.

Other riders with a chance to win the race are Rui Costa (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Simone Ponzi (Team Katusha), Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC), Frank Schleck (Etixx - Quickstep), Dries Devenyns (BMC Racing Team) and Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel - Euskadi).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2010	Dries Devenyns	Filippo Pozzato	José Joaquin Rojas
2012	Björn Leukemans	Fränk Schleck	Davide Rebellin
2014	Simon Gerrans	Björn Leukemans	Dries Devenyns
2015	Björn Leukemans	Jelle Vanendert	Philippe Gilbert

Startlist

Any Lotto - Soudal rider

Philippe Gilbert disapointet me last time, but I am a loyal fan

Liege - Ans



La Doyenne is the monument of the Ardennes and one of the longest living races in the World of cycling. The route is scattered with little climbs, mostly on the way back from Bastogne towards Ans. The first difficult climb is the Cote de Saint-Roch but it is a bit isolated towards the middle of the race. The race will start to get interesting at the three consecutive climbs of Wanne, Stockeu and la Haute-Levee. Those start 100 kilometers from the finish line in Ans and from then on it is a sequence of hills with barely any rest.



There was quite a bit of fight in the peloton before a break was allowed to go away. The way towards Bastogne was a bit more relaxing for the pack after the Cote de la Roche-en-Ardenne. The break was made of 7 riders, including Nairo Quintana (Orica), Linus Gerdemann (Giant), Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Leopold Konig (IAM) and Maxime Vantomme (Vacansoleil). At Bastogne, still with 159 kilometers to go, their gap had grown to 4' 15''. Katusha, Lotto and BMC were setting the pace in the bunch but they were not in a rush to bring them back.



The peloton had made it to the Haute-Levee before they started to seriously chase the break back. However, the very steep gradients of the Cote de Stockeu were already causing troubles for some riders at the back of the pack. The gap, which had gone up to 6 minutes, was quickly down to 4' 45'' thanks to the hard work from Tony Martin. The German is not the best hills rider but has a lot of power in his legs. Katusha was also trying to help but they suffered the crash of Pavel Brutt, their second option for the race alongside Simone Ponzi. Another important rider to crash was also Tom Slagter but he was quickly back in the pack.



Ruben Plaza was setting the pace in the break ahead of Nairo Quintana at the Cote de la Vecquee, still with 62 kilometers to go in the race. Their gap is constantly reducing as Lotto put Michael Matthews and Rafal Majka to help Tony Martin at the front of the peloton. That was also causing a reduction of the number of riders that survived in the main bunch. Lotto has two of the favorites for the race and their best chance of success is to try to make the day as hard as possible.



La Redoute is no longer the place where the race breaks and the favorites start attacking but BMC put Eros Capecchi at the front during the first half of the climb and Lotto's Rafal Majka relieved him in the second part. That put a strain in many riders and the size of the group had decreased to 90 riders after that. Among those that were left behind the most important riders were Benat Intxausti, Danilo di Luca and Pavel Brutt. The break was 2 minutes ahead of the group but at some of the steepest parts they felt even closer.



It was very difficult to attack from the front of the peloton with a rider like Michael Matthews setting the pace. However, Dries Devenyns attacked in the Cote de Forges, in between La Redoute and La Roche-aux-Faucons. With 32 kilometers to go it was a brave move by the Belgian but he knew that he could not wait until the final climbs if he wanted to win the Liege again. The group had been losing riders little by little. Among those riders close to the front and aware of any attack were Emanuele Sella, Jelle Vanendert and Simone Ponzi.



Dries Devenyns could not maintain his lead ahead of the peloton given the pace by the Lotto riders that were chasing so the favorites reached the Roche-Aux-Faucons together. The break was a mere 20 seconds ahead at the start of the climb. That was the point chosen by Jelle Vanendert to attack. The Belgian did not look back and no one was able to follow the move. It completely shattered the group and at the second part of the climb he had 15 seconds on Philippe Gilbert, who was the lonely chaser. Greg van Avermaet, Dries Devenyns and Bauke Mollema were 30 seconds behind and Tom Slagter, Davide Rebellin and Cadel Evans were 1 minute behind. Other riders like Bjorn Leukemans, Simone Ponzi and Joost van Leijen were far behind already.



Jelle Vanendert never looked back after the Roche and reached the climb to Saint-Nicholas with an even greater lead over his chasers: Greg van Avermaet, Philippe Gilbert, Bauke Mollema and Dries Devenyns. They were already losing 50 seconds. With only 7 kilometers to go it seemed very unlikely that Vanendert would not take his first win in La Doyenne. Bjorn Leukemans had been respectful with his teammate but had started to make progress and joined Cadel Evans and Davide Rebellin in the 2nd chasing group. A bigger group of 25 riders was losing 1' 45'' already and it seemed unlikely for them to have any options to reach the podium.



By the time Jelle Vanendert reached the bottom of the last climb to Ans he was already celebrating his first win in the Liege - Bastogne - Liege. The Belgian was by far the strongest rider today and the group of 4 chasers could not get back any time on him and were even losing additional time. There had been a few other moves behind and Bjorn Leukemans' group had been caught by 7 other riders including Simone Ponzi and Joost van Leijen. Leukemans would not be able to add a 3rd Liege to his tally but it is another Lotto rider that will take it.



The gap to the chasing group had increased to 1' 10'' at the 1 kilometer mark as the chasers were looking at each other in the fight for the podium. Philippe Gilbert was the first to launch the final sprint and was leading Bauke Mollema, Greg van Avermaet and Dries Devenyns up the Ans hill. They should not have waited that much as the second chasing group was almost catching up with them led by Simone Ponzi and Frank Schleck. Ponzi should have been stronger in the Ardennes but he was not up there with the best this year. Nevertheless, he might be in the mix for a top 5 yet.



Jelle Vanendert wins in Ans! This is the first time that Vanendert takes the win in the Liege - Bastogne - Liege and he has made it 4 wins for local riders out of the last 5 races. He has also been the rider to win with a longer attack among the latest winner as he has been riding solo for the last 20 kilometers of the race, since the Roche-aux-Faucons. The day was even better for Lotto as Bjorn Leukemans was clearly racing with the brakes on not to hurt Vanendert's chances. He powered through the final hill to overtake all the other chasers and take the 2nd place in the monument.

Philippe Gilbert seemed quite strong today and grabbed the last place of the podium, while Bauke Mollema and Simone Ponzi completed the top 5. There was a bit of disappointment in Giant's camp as Joost van Leijen only managed to take the 9th position, not even arriving in Gilbert's group. On the other side, Bauke Mollema was much better than expected and his drop in results in the Grand Tours has been compensated by good results in shorter stage races and some classics.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Jelle Vanendert	Lotto - Soudal	6h46'15
2		Björn Leukemans	Lotto - Soudal	+ 1'11
3		Philippe Gilbert	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'20
4		Bauke Mollema	Vacansoleil - DCM	s.t.
5		Simone Ponzi	Team Katusha	s.t.
6		Fränk Schleck	Etixx - Quick·Step	s.t.
7		Greg Van Avermaet	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
8		Dries Devenyns	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
9		Joost Van Leijen	Team Giant - Alpecin	+ 1'41
10		Michele Scarponi	Movistar Team	s.t.

Lotto - Soudal are getting stronger with every race

I can even anticipate that they are ahead of Euskaltel in the World Tour rankings

And something tells me they are going to get harder to beat over the coming months too

Great show from Lotto, at least a podium for Gilbert.

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Liege - Bastogne - Liege)

1		Björn Leukemans	Lotto	301.67
2		Jelle Vanendert	Lotto	264.12
3		David Lopez	Euskaltel	258.67
4		Lloyd Mondory	Quickstep	236.6
5		Simone Ponzi	Katusha	233.86
6		Alexander Kristoff	Euskaltel	152.4
7		Hubert Dupont	Euskaltel	132.88
8		Rui Costa	Ag2r	127.34
9		Emanuele Sella	BMC	116.03
10		Johan Vansummeren	HTC	115.48
11		Andre Greipel	Lotto	102.5
12		Mikel Nieve	Discovery	100
13		Fränk Schleck	Quickstep	89.1
14		Laurens Ten Dam	Cannondale	76.1
15		Mark Renshaw	Discovery	74.55

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Liege - Bastogne - Liege)

1		Lotto - Soudal	739.75
2		Euskaltel - Euskadi	621.95
3		BMC Racing Team	359.8
4		Etixx - Quickstep	357.55
5		Team Katusha	267.25
6		Discovery Channel	184.4
7		Trek Factory Racing	181.8
8		Team Cannondale - Garmin	170.35
9		HTC - Highroad	158.4
10		Astana Pro Team	145.25
11		Ag2r - La Mondiale	139.35
12		Vacansoleil - DMC	139.3
13		Team LottoNL - Jumbo	129.25
14		Movistar Team	121.5
15		Team Sky	112.05
16		Team Giant - Alpecin	91.5
17		IAM Cycling	84.7
18		Tinkoff - Saxo	62.95

UCI Pro Continental rankings riders (after Liege - Bastogne - Liege)

1		Xavier Tondo	Lampre	80
2		Gregory Rast	Orica	40
3		Christophe Riblon	Cofidis	6
4		Martin Elmiger	Orica	3.3

UCI Pro Continental rankings teams (after Liege - Bastogne - Liege)

1		Lampre - Merida	80
2		Orica - Greenedge	43.3
3		Cofidis, Solutions Credits	6
4		FDJ	0

Lotto - Soudal are going to be very hard to catch from here onwards

The last race before the Giro d'Italia is the Tour de Romandie so many riders, especially those good at time trials, have chosen the Swiss race to prepare for the Giro. The Romandie is the French-speaking part of Switzerland, which is a perfect place for a stage race given the diversity of stages that can be programmed in the area. The route will be the same that was raced last year, featuring a prologue in Ascona before heading West. The most important stages will be the 4th, a very mountainous stage finishing in Aigle and the last, a time trial around Neuchatel.

The winner of last year's Tour de Romandie was Bauke Mollema, who will be among the favorites to repeat that win. Levi Leipheimer will also be there but the third placed and winner in 2013, Tejay van Garderen, has decided to skip the race and start the Giro with barely any racing done this year. The race has sometimes favored the time trialists and the win by Cameron Meyer in 2012 is a good proof. However, the stage finishing in Aigle has 4 very tough climbs, including Villars-sur-Ollon only a few kilometers from the finish line.

Favorites:

- Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC): Bauke Mollema is the current winner of the Tour de Romandie and has come back to Switzerland to defend last year's win. The Dutch has proven to be on a ver good shape by taking the 4th place in the Liege - Bastogne - Liege, a race that does not suit him that much. This is the last preparation race for the Giro that the Dutch will do so it will also be a good test to see whether he can be among the top riders in the Italian race.
- Chris Froome (Team Sky): Switzerland has traditionally been a place that Froome likes. He got the win in the Tour de Suisse in 2012 and the fact that there are 2 time trials in the race is something that favors his chances for the win. The British has also improved considerably in the mountains in the latter years and even got a 5th final place in the Tour de France last year. His main problem will probably be the lack of depth in Sky's squad.
- Marco Pinotti (Etixx - Quickstep): The Tour de Romandie is a quite different race to other stage races in the calendar and that is why someone like Marco Pinotti might be in the mix. The Italian was 3rd in last year's ITT World Championships and he might get a good bounty off the time trials against some of the better climbers. It might be difficult for him to get the overall win but he could be in the podium at the end of the week.
- Andrew Talansky (HTC - Highroad): Andrew Talansky has been almost completely disappeared this season so far. He has only raced the Tirreno - Adriatico, where he was 9th, and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco but he said he is trying to maximise his chances in the Giro d'Italia. His result in Romandie might be a good hint about his shape ahead of the Giro and there are several other quality riders in the mountains that can help gauge his chances.

Other riders with a chance in Switzerland are Cadel Evans (Movistar Team), Jerome Coppel (IAM Cycling), Laurens Ten Dam (Team Cannondale - Garmin), Robert Gesink (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Cameron Meyer (Trek Factory Racing) and Levi Leipheimer (HTC - Highroad).

Romandie is not a race for sprinters but among those present are Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team), Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC), Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal), Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff - Saxo) and Elia Viviani (Team Cannondale - Garmin).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2010	Pieter Weening	Xavi Tondo	Mikel Nieve
2012	Cameron Meyer	Tejay van Garderen	Peter Stetina
2013	Tejay van Garderen	Bauke Mollema	Rigoberto Uran
2015	Bauke Mollema	Levi Leipheimer	Tejay van Garderen

Startlist


Route Preview

Euskaltel will fancy there chances here

Definately Mollema this one is his.