Tour de Romandie 2019 – Stage 3 [LAST 20 KM]

May 3, 2019

Tour de Romandie 2019 – Stage 3 – Romont – Romont : 160 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.

David Gaudu gave Groupama-FDJ its second consecutive stage victory at the Tour de Romandie. A day after Stefan Küng soloed to the stage 2 win, Gaudu showed off his rapidly improving climbing talents by beating Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) on the steep finish to Chateau de Romont.

Michael Woods (EF Education First) was fourth after tangling with Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) but Gaudu stole the limelight, struggling to understand how he had beaten some of the best Grand Tour riders in the peloton.

The 22-year-old Breton timed his acceleration perfectly, avoiding a late crash and poor positioning before dancing on the pedals to won by several bike lengths as his bigger-name rivals could only chase him and fight for the remaining time bonuses.

Gaudu won the 2016 Tour de L’Avenir, indicating his stage race talents. He took his first professional victory at the Tour de l’Ain in 2017 but this is his first WorldTour victory. He made his Tour de France debut in 2018, finishing 34th overall and fourth in the best young rider classification.

“I felt really good all day,” Gaudu explained.

“In the final, the guys did a great job to position me over the last couple of climbs. When we brought Thomas De Gendt back and I felt I still had some power in the legs. At the foot of the final climb I was up in the front positions and as we went up I was feeling pretty strong.

“Coming out of the final bend I knew I had to go for it but I didn’t overly believe I could do it. I said to myself: ‘all the way to the line,’ but thought that it wasn’t possible, that’d I’d finish second, but in the end, it smiled on me.”

Thanks to a ten-second time bonus, Gaudu is now second overall, six seconds behind Roglic, with Costa third overall at eight seconds. The Tour de Romandie will be decided over the weekend with the mountain stage on Saturday and then a 16.8km time trial around Geneve on Sunday. Gaudu is not great in time trials but was upbeat about a day in the mountains.

“Tomorrow is going to be hard and the weather won’t be great either. The climb is pretty good and so we’ll see what happens. I think I’ve got a couple of bullets left to fire. We’ll see.”

How it unfolded

The 160km stage covered three different out and back loops from Romont, with a shark’s tooth profile making for a day of suffering before the kick up to the finish.

Sprinter Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) was one of the first to attack but then surprisingly quit the race. The early break formed after 25km with Kenny Elissonde (Team Ineos), Lennard Kamna (Team Sunweb), Michael Storer (Team Sunweb), Michael Albasini (Mitchelton-Scott), Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida), Andrey Amador (Movistar) and Roland Thalmann (Switzerland) soon gaining a minute. The break shuffled, with Amador dropping back and Nikita Stalnov (Astana) came across but Jumbo-Visma rode to protect Roglic’s yellow jersey and the gap never grew past 1:40.

Behind the sprinters and their teammates slipped off the back on the climbs but chased to close the gap as they enjoyed some final climbing training for the Giro d’Italia.

With 35km to go and three nasty climbs remaining, the EF Education First took over the pace setting from Jumbo-Visma, keen to shake out the peloton and set up Woods for the steep finish. Hugh Carthy caused some damage on a climb, and then Tanel Kangert took over before Joe Dombrowski also hit the front. Their efforts brought the break to heel with 17km to go and spat out a number of sprinters.

EF Education First stayed in control until 6.5km to go when Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) tried a solo attack. He is always a threat but was soon chased down as all the overall contenders fought for position near the front. They knew it was vital to be in the top ten if they were fighting for the stage victory and the important time bonuses.

Thomas was dragged up front with a kilometre to go and Costa was well placed. However others were fighting for position and a touch of wheels in a turn sparked a crash, with Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) taking down Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida). Their chances were over.

In sight of the line, Thomas also almost rode into Woods and lost his chance. However, Gaudu was up front and away from the fighting. He saw the finish approach, danced on the pedals, and soon opened a gap on his rivals, winning with his arms open and huge smile on his face.

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

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