Tour de Romandie 2019 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

May 1, 2019

Tour de Romandie 2019 – Stage 1 – Neuchâtel – La Chaux-de-Fonds : 168,4 km

The 73rd edition of the Tour de Romandie stays true to form as a shorter, less intense first test for Tour de France contenders before next month’s Tour de Suisse and Criterium du Dauphine, attracting a stellar field and a well-balanced course. Last season, the victory went to Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), who used his time trialing prowess and strong climbing form to claim the overall win over Egan Bernal (Team Sky) and Richie Porte (BMC). This season, Roglic will be up against Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, while an on-form Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), third in the Basque Country Tour, will be one to watch.

After missing out by less than a second in Tuesday’s prologue, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) claimed victory and the overall lead on the opening road stage of the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday.

The defending champion won a sprint from a select group of around 20 riders after the peloton had been reduced over the five categorised climbs – and a few uncategorised ones – on the 168.4km route from Neuchatel to La Chaux-de-Fonds.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) sprinted to second place after an aggressive display in the final 15 kilometres, while Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) took the final spot on the podium. Roglic takes the leader’s jersey from his compatriot Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida), who won the prologue but was dropped on the final climb of the Col de la Tourne with just over 25km to go.

In the overall standings, Roglic leads Costa by 10 seconds, with Gaudu third at 12 seconds and Thomas fourth at 13 seconds.

“It was a really hard day for me and it wasn’t easy with a lot of climbs but, in the end, I managed to get the stage from a small group,” Roglic said. “It was nice to win a sprint because I’ve lost quite a lot of times in sprints so it’s a nice feeling now I’ve finally won.”

In the end, a select group of general classification contenders emerged to contest the finish, but the parcours, with five second-category climbs, left the door ajar to the breakaway hopefuls and the more versatile sprinters.

After an intense start and battle to make the break, 13 riders went clear ahead of the first climb after 25km. In there were: Chad Haga (Team Sunweb), Diego Rosa (Team Ineos), Eros Capecchi (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Jay Robert Thomson (Dimension Data), William Bonnet (Groupama-FDJ), Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe), Simon Pellaud (Switzerland), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo-Visma), Lukasz Owsian (CCC Team), Patrick Schelling (Switzerland), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) and Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates).

Pellaud led the way over three of the climbs to take the mountains jersey, and was one of the last men standing as the ascents reduced the breakaway group before he, Gougeard, and Owsian were caught by the peloton on the final climb of the Col de la Tourne.

As for the sprinters, Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was struggling on the first climb and was dropped on the third, the Haut-de-la-Côte, after 90 kilometres, while Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and the rest suffered the same fate when the race ignited on the Tourne. The only true fast finisher left in contention at the top of the final climb was Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida), though the Italian was himself dispatched when Thomas attacked on a short uncategorised climb with 12km to go.

At that point, Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) was alone out front, having attacked on the false flat just after the summit of the Tourne. The German held the reduced peloton – led almost exclusively by Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) – at 30 seconds until Thomas accelerated, bringing Gaudu and Michael Woods (EF Education First) across with him. They linked up with Buchmann with 6km to go, on another uncategorised uphill drag, though by that point the vastly reduced main group, led by Roglic’s teammate Steven Kruijswijk, was almost upon them.

Attack and counter-attack came and went from that group of 20 on the run-in, with Gaudu trying his luck again, and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) making repeated efforts. When the Russian went with 1.8km to go, Thomas responded, flying past him under the flamme rouge, though he was shut down by Carlos Betancur (Movistar) before the rest of the group came rushing through for the sprint. Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott) led the way but Roglic soon came around to win by a clear margin.

The Slovenian has foregone the defending champion’s customary number 1 dossard, arguing he was unsure of his form after a lengthy spell away from racing, but this was further proof that he is a true contender for the title this week, and indeed for the Giro d’Italia, which begins in 10 days.

Results :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 4:15:18
2 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
3 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
4 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First
5 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
6 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
7 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
8 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team
9 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
10 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert
11 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
12 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
13 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
14 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
15 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
16 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
17 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
18 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
19 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
20 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
21 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:00:50
22 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
23 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
24 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Swiss National Team
25 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
26 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
27 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
28 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
29 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First
30 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First
31 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First
32 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
33 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
34 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:27
35 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
36 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:10
37 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
38 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
39 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
40 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data
41 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:02
42 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:37
43 Patrick Müller (Swi) Swiss National Team
44 Mathias Flueckiger (Swi) Swiss National Team
45 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
46 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
47 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
48 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
49 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
50 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data
51 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
52 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
53 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
54 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Swiss National Team
55 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
56 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
57 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
58 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
59 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Sky
60 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
61 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
62 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
63 Roland Thalmann (Swi) Swiss National Team
64 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First
65 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb
66 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Education First
67 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
68 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:08:32
69 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
70 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
71 Florian Storck (Swi) Team Sunweb
72 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
73 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
74 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
75 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
76 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert
77 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
78 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
79 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
80 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:09:03
81 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:11:05
82 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
83 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:12:50
84 Claudio Imhof (Swi) Swiss National Team
85 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:13:10
86 Patrick Schelling (Swi) Swiss National Team
87 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
88 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
89 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
90 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert
91 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
92 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
93 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
94 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
95 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma
96 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
97 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
98 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
99 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal
100 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
101 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
102 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates
103 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First
104 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
105 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
106 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
107 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
108 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
109 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:23:30
110 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
111 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
112 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
113 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data
114 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
115 Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain-Merida
116 Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
117 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
118 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
119 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
120 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe
121 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
122 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
123 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
124 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
125 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Bahrain-Merida
126 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
127 Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
128 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo
129 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
130 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
131 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
132 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
133 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates
134 Rasmus Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:23:35
DNF Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal
DNF Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
DNF Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
DNS Jacques Willem Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
DNS Gino Mäder (Swi) Dimension Data

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 4:20:15
2 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:10
3 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:12
4 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:13
5 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:14
6 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:15
7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:17
8 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:18
9 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
10 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:19
11 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:22
12 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team 0:00:23
14 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:24
15 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First
16 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:26
17 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert
18 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:00:28
19 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
20 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:00:44
21 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:01:04
22 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First 0:01:07
23 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky 0:01:10
24 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
25 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First 0:01:12
26 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:01:14
27 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
28 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:17
29 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:19
30 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First 0:01:20
31 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
32 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team 0:01:27
33 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:01:33
34 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:50
35 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:53
36 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:27
37 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:41
38 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:02:42
39 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:44
40 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data 0:02:48
41 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:17
42 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:51
43 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:04:52
44 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Sky 0:04:53
45 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott 0:04:54
46 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:04:55
47 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:58
48 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:00
49 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:05:01
50 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data
51 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:05:02
52 Roland Thalmann (Swi) Swiss National Team
53 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
54 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:05:04
55 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:05
56 Patrick Müller (Swi) Swiss National Team
57 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Education First
58 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:06
59 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Swiss National Team
60 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:05:07
61 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First 0:05:08
62 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida 0:05:09
63 Mathias Flueckiger (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:05:11
64 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:05:15
65 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:05:17
66 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
67 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:05:19
68 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:08:41
69 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:08:49
70 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:08:50
71 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
72 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky 0:08:52
73 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:08:55
74 Florian Storck (Swi) Team Sunweb 0:08:56
75 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
76 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert 0:08:59
77 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:02
78 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:09:09
79 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:09:12
80 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:09:26
81 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:11:25
82 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:11:28
83 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:13:03
84 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 0:13:20
85 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:24
86 Claudio Imhof (Swi) Swiss National Team
87 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:13:25
88 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:13:27
89 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team 0:13:29
90 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:13:30
91 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:13:31
92 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:32
93 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team 0:13:33
94 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First 0:13:35
95 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
96 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
97 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:13:36
98 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
99 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
100 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
101 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:13:37
102 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:13:39
103 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:13:40
104 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
105 Patrick Schelling (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:13:41
106 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:13:43
107 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert 0:13:44
108 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:14:22
109 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:23:47
110 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:23:48
111 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
112 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data
113 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo 0:23:49
114 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
115 Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:23:50
116 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:23:51
117 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:23:52
118 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:23:53
119 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:23:55
120 Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
121 Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain-Merida 0:23:58
122 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:23:59
123 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:24:00
124 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:24:01
125 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Bahrain-Merida 0:24:02
126 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:24:04
127 Rasmus Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:24:05
128 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:24:06
129 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 0:24:08
130 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:24:09
131 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
132 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
133 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:24:11
134 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:24:14