Tour de Romandie 2017 – Stage 3 [FULL STAGE]

April 28, 2017

Tour de Romandie 2017 – Stage 3 – Payerne – Payerne : 187 km

The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling.

Elia Viviani (Team Sky) turned disappointment into success by winning the third stage of the Tour de Romandie.

The Italian sprinter was not selected for Tem Sky’s squad for the Giro d’Italia on Friday morning but bounced back to win the sprint in Payerne after an excellent lead out from his Team Sky teammates, including Chris Froome, who pulled Viviani up into perfect position with help from Owain Doull.

After Bora-Hansgrohe wound up the pace, Viviani dived onto the wheel of late attacker Alex Edmondson (Orica-Scott) and then made his move at the right moment, holding off Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) to win his first sprint of 2017. Michael Schwarzmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) was third, while Edmondson hung on to finish fourth.

Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) finished safely in the peloton and so kept the overall race lead before Saturday’s queen stage in the mountains.

How it happened

After two days of cold and wet racing, many riders and teams awoke in Bulle to see a thick covering of snow. Some riders were perhaps hoping for a day off as the posted photos on social media but the conditions were much better down the valley near Lake Neufchatel for the twisting circuits and 187km of racing around Payerne.

By the time the riders lined up for the start at lunchtime, the sun was breaking through and the peloton enjoyed a day on dry roads. Of course, with temperatures still in single figures, the riders made sure they were wrapped up for the cold.

Several attacks came when the flag was dropped but the early break of the day formed after 12 kilometres of racing. Davide Martinelli (Quick-Step Floors), Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac), Victor Campenaerts (LottoNL-Jumbo), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Hugo Houle (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Nikita Stalnov (Astana) were in the move and worked smoothly together to open a three-minute gap.

De Gendt carefully took maximum points on the first categorised climbs to protect the climber’s jersey of teammate Sander Armee and did it again on the Grandsivaz climb with 62km remaining. Stalnov was distanced at this point, leaving six men up front.

The pack seemed happy to let them hang out front as the race covered loops around Payerne. Trek-Segafredo and Bahrain-Merida did the bulk of the work on the front of the peloton. Trek-Segafredo took responsibility for the leader’s jersey on the shoulders of Felline, while Bahrain were confident in Colbrelli’s chances in a sprint finish.

Bahrain-Merida worked hard all day and so the break never extended its lead, with the gap falling quickly in the second half of the stage. Surprisingly, the race came back together with 36km to go.

It was too early for Bahrain-Merida to control the peloton all the way to the finish and attacks came on the rolling roads in the final hour. Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) kicked things off with 30 kilometres to go. He was soon joined by Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) and Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal).

Jungels attacked over the top of the climb with 25 kilometres to go but that disrupted the move and caused the end of the attack. Soon after Dowsett tried his hand with a solo attack. He opened 30-second lead with a huge effort. He looked strong and committed but the peloton refused to give up again, even after Bahrain-Merida eased up. Dowsett hung out front for a while but was eventually swept him up with three kilometres to go.

Bora-Hansgrohe thought it was their day and lead out the sprint but then Team Sky and Viviani came past in the final kilometre to turn disappointment for the Italian sprinter into success.

Results :
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 4:27:42
2 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
3 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott
5 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data
7 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
8 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
9 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
10 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
11 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
12 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ
13 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
14 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac
15 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
16 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
17 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
18 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
19 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
20 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
21 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
22 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
23 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
24 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
25 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale
26 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
27 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
28 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
29 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
30 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
31 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
32 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
33 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
34 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
35 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ
36 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors
37 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
38 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
39 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
40 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
41 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
42 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
43 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
44 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
45 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
46 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
47 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
48 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
49 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
50 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ
51 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
52 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
53 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
54 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
55 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
56 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
57 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
58 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
59 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data
60 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
61 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
62 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
63 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data
64 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
65 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
66 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
67 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
68 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
69 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott
70 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
71 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
72 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
73 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
74 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
75 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
76 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
77 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
78 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
79 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
80 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
81 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
82 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida
83 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
84 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
85 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
86 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
87 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
88 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
89 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
90 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
91 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
92 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
93 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
94 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott
95 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
96 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
97 Annas Ait el Abdia (Mor) UAE Team Emirates
98 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
99 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
100 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
101 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
102 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team
103 David Gaudu (Fra) FDJ
104 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
105 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
106 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
107 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
108 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
109 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Katusha-Alpecin
110 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
111 Alberto Losada (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
112 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
113 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
114 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott
115 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:12
116 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:14
117 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
118 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:00:33
119 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:37
120 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
121 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:00:42
122 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:55
123 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:34
124 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:06
125 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:03:33
126 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:05:47
127 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:07:42
128 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:43
129 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
130 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
131 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
132 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
133 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
134 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
135 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
136 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
137 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
138 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
139 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
140 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
141 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb
142 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
143 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:08:43
144 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
145 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
146 Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
147 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-Scott
148 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data
149 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal

General classification after Stage 3 :
1 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 12:40:24
2 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:08
3 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:09
5 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:12
6 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors
7 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:13
8 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
9 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott 0:00:14
10 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
11 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
12 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:15
13 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott
14 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:16
15 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
16 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:00:18
17 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:19
18 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:20
19 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
20 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
21 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
22 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
23 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
24 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:21
25 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
26 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:23
27 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
28 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:24
29 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
30 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:25
31 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott 0:00:26
32 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:27
33 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:28
34 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
35 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
36 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:29
37 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
38 David Gaudu (Fra) FDJ
39 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
40 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:30
41 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
42 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
43 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:00:31
44 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
45 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:33
46 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
47 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:00:34
48 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
49 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
50 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:36
51 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:37
52 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
53 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
54 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:42
55 Annas Ait el Abdia (Mor) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:44
56 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:53
57 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:54
58 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:58
59 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:01:02
60 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
61 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:04
62 Alberto Losada (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:09
63 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:25
64 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb 0:01:37
65 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:42
66 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:53
67 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:03
68 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
69 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
70 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ 0:02:04
71 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:07
72 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:14
73 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:21
74 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data 0:03:03
75 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:35
76 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:03:36
77 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ 0:04:34
78 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data 0:04:47
79 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:04:50
80 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:05:24
81 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:05:42
82 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:06:09
83 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:06:42
84 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
85 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac 0:06:48
86 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:07:56
87 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:08:06
88 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:08
89 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:08:32
90 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:08:34
91 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:08:59
92 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:09:17
93 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:09:19
94 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ 0:09:23
95 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:09:26
96 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:09:28
97 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:09:29
98 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:09:33
99 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates 0:09:34
100 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:09:35
101 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:09:38
102 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:09:44
103 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:54
104 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:10:10
105 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:10:13
106 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:10:18
107 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:11:31
108 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:12:43
109 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:12:46
110 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:13:01
111 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:13:04
112 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:13
113 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:13:14
114 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ 0:13:15
115 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:34
116 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors 0:13:49
117 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:14:06
118 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac 0:14:14
119 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:14:16
120 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:15:59
121 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:17:02
122 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:17:21
123 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:17:56
124 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:19:03
125 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:19:28
126 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:20:27
127 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:21:01
128 Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:21:24
129 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:21:27
130 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:21:35
131 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-Scott 0:21:40
132 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:22:28
133 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:23:01
134 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:23:15
135 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:24:29
136 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:25:51
137 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:27:13
138 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:27:14
139 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida 0:28:54
140 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:29:07
141 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:30:19
142 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:30:37
143 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:30:44
144 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:31:45
145 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data 0:32:23
146 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:33:10
147 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo 0:36:23
148 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:36:30
149 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors 0:36:46