Tour de Romandie 2021 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial]

May 2, 2021

Tour de Romandie 2021 – Stage 5 – Fribourg – Fribourg : 16,19 km

With the Spring Classics now done and dusted, it’s time to head to the Swiss Alps for the Tour de Romandie and one last stage-racing hurrah before the Grand Tour season officially begins. This year’s route features a record-breaking 12,500m of climbing as well as two individual time trials, making it a perfect warm-up for those riders targeting the Giro d’Italia or Tour de France. After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tour de Romandie is back and will take place just a week before the first Grand Tour of the season – the Giro d’Italia – is set to start. To mark the Tour de Romandie’s return to the calendar, its organisers have concocted a grueling route with over 12,500m of climbing spread across six days of racing. Considering two of these six days are individual time trials, we’re in for some incredibly hilly days in the saddle.

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) made up for his blunder on the previous day to claim overall victory at the Tour de Romandie, as Remi Cavagna (Deceuncink-QuickStep) won the final-day time trial.

Thomas, who bizarrely crashed when sprinting alongside Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) atop Thyon 2000 on Saturday, made no mistake in recovering his 11-second deficit to the Canadian leader on the 16km course.

Thomas placed third on the stage, with Stefan Bissegger (EF-Nippo) producing another fine time trial to take second place.

Richie Porte made it a one-two on the final podium for Ineos, as he leapfrogged Marc Soler (Movistar), Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) and Woods himself, who slipped to fifth overall.

Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who started the day sixth overall, produced his best time trial to date to place sixth on the stage and claim the final spot on the overall podium.

“I’m very happy, especially after the old mishap yesterday. That definitely made it more of a challenge today.” said Thomas. “Me and Richie came here wanting to win the race with one of us, and now we’re first and second, so can’t complain.”

Even Woods wrote off his chances of defending yellow against Thomas, and the balance of power was apparent by the intermediate checkpoint half-way through the undulating course. After a short descent and a nasty cobbled climb, there was a localized patch of heavy rain on the drag to the checkpoint, where Thomas was already 31 seconds to the good.

He was also a fraction of a second up on Cavagna’s benchmark there, but any temptation of going for the stage win was overruled by caution, as Thomas opted for a risk-free approach to the descent into Fribourg ahead of the final kick to the line.

“To be honest, it kind of reminded me of when I won the Tour de France [in 2018], the last TT was kind of like this, with the director on the radio telling me not to do anything stupid,” Thomas said.

“You start to overthink it a bit them but I’m really happy to finish it off. It’s been a great week for the team.”

In the end, Thomas finished 17 seconds down on Cavagna’s winning time of 21:54, with Paris-Nice stage winner Bissegger slotted in between at six seconds. Cavagna rode an aggressive race and was 17 seconds clear of Bissegger at the half-way point, fading a little in comparison on the second half of the course. Another rider to fade late on was prologue winner Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers), who was in the mix at the checkpoint but had to settle for ninth place. His teammate, and the current world champion, Filippo Ganna was a couple of seconds slower to make it four in the top-10 for Ineos.

Deceuninck-QuickStep themselves had three, with Mattia Cattaneo joining Cavagna and Masnada. That only left room for Team DSM’s young talent Ilan Van Wilder, who produced another impressive performance to take fourth, and Soler, who got everything out of himself but fell one agonizing second short of the final podium.

As for those overall standings, Thomas wins the Tour de Romandie by 28 seconds from Porte, with Masnada third at 38 seconds. After Soler, Woods slipped to fifth at 43 seconds, with O’Connor in sixth the only other rider within a minute of Thomas. Ion Izaguirre (Astana-Premier Tech), Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) and Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) were all unchanged at the lower end of the top-10.

How it unfolded

Although the day started out brightly, it wasn’t long before the clouds gathered and gave what had been a washout of a week its fitting finale. The early starters managed to avoid the worst of the rain, possibly handing the likes of Cavagna and Bissegger an advantage but, the downpour soon came.

Strangely, the first section of the course remained largely dry, as did the final rise to the line, but out in the middle were roads so wet that riders’ wheels kicked up significant spray. At one point, the rain was pelting down, but it did back off by the time the overall contenders hit the course.

The course itself was a tricky affair, starting with a technical descent followed immediately by a steep 700-metre cobbled climb. The road then rolled before dragging up on the wet roads to the intermediate checkpoint at the half-way mark. After another rolling section came the sweeping 3km descent into Fribourg, and the kick up through the old town in the final kilometre.

Claudio Imhof (Swiss national team) was the first rider down the ramp at 12:17 local time, but it was Bissegger who was always expected to set the benchmark among the early starters. He duly obliged, clocking 22 minutes, which looked even more impressive a little while later when the world champion Ganna rolled home at a deficit of 31 seconds.

It wasn’t long before Cavagna was out on course and, having come close in various time trials this year, he started his intentions at the intermediate, where he was 17 seconds to the good. He lost a little in the second part of the course but it was more than enough.

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) was one of the specialists who was unable to make an impact. That was ultimately true of Dennis, despite the prologue winner appearing right in the thick of it at the half-way mark. By that point, however, the rain was still coming down.

Van Wilder caught the eye with his ride but it was soon time for the GC battle. The riders in the lower half of the top 10 all held their own and held their positions but there was plenty of potential for movement higher up. Masnada wasn’t widely mentioned ahead of the stage but showed his continued improvement with a storming ride to post 22:15.

Porte was soon home and was one second better, meaning O’Connor and Woods would need miracles to keep their podium spots. Soler, who started the day 4th overall three seconds up on Porte, lost 14 seconds to the Australian but nevertheless will have been pleased with his effort, even if he was eventually pipped to the podium.

O’Connor gave it his all but, like Woods, always had the odds against him. He clocked 22:46, beating Woods but falling two seconds short of him in what became a battle for the top-five.

It wasn’t long into Woods’ ride that it was clear Thomas was on his way to victory, as Woods himself had predicted. The Israel Start-Up Nation rider gave it everything on the final ramp but by then Thomas was already celebrating his first win since the 2018 Tour de France.

Results :
1 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:21:54
2 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-Nippo 0:00:06
3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:17
4 Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM 0:00:18
5 Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:20
6 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:21
7 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:29
8 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:34
9 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:35
10 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:37
11 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:48
12 Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:49
13 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:50
14 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:51
15 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
16 Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team 0:00:52
17 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:54
18 Rodrigo Contreras Pinzon (Col) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:55
19 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
20 Magnus Cort (Den) EF Education-Nippo 0:00:57
21 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:59
22 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:01:01
23 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Team BikeExchange
24 Tony Martin (Ger) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:04
25 Marco Brenner (Ger) Team DSM
26 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:07
27 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:10
28 Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 0:01:11
29 Tejay van Garderen (USA) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:12
30 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM 0:01:13
31 Damien Howson (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:01:14
32 Ian Garrison (USA) Deceuninck-QuickStep
33 Chad Haga (USA) Team DSM 0:01:15
34 Owain Doull (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:16
35 Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Trek-Segafredo
36 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:17
37 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:19
38 Josef Cerny (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
39 Tom Bohli (Swi) Cofidis 0:01:20
40 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:01:23
41 Felix Gall (Aut) Team DSM 0:01:24
42 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:01:25
43 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
44 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech 0:01:29
45 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:32
46 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:33
47 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Israel Start-up Nation 0:01:34
48 Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:37
49 Julien El Fares (Fra) EF Education-Nippo
50 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team 0:01:49
51 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team 0:01:50
52 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:01:53
53 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:55
54 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Ineos Grenadiers
55 Simone Petilli (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:01:56
56 Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:59
57 Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:02:00
58 Charlie Quarterman (GBr) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:01
59 Javier Romo Oliver (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech
60 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma 0:02:02
61 Thomas Champion (Fra) Cofidis 0:02:04
62 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Jumbo-Visma 0:02:06
63 Diego Camargo Pineda (Col) EF Education-Nippo 0:02:08
64 Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain Victorious 0:02:10
65 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
66 Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:12
67 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:02:13
68 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Team BikeExchange
69 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:14
70 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:15
71 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:16
72 Dion Smith (NZl) Team BikeExchange
73 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:18
74 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R Citroën Team 0:02:20
75 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
76 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:02:22
77 Claudio Imhof (Swi) Swiss National Team
78 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation 0:02:24
79 Jaakko Hänninen (Fin) AG2R Citroën Team 0:02:25
80 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:02:26
81 Mathias Fluckiger (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:02:28
82 Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team 0:02:30
83 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:02:32
84 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
85 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
86 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 0:02:33
87 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
88 Joel Suter (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:02:34
89 Sergio Henao Montoya (Col) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:02:39
90 Rob Power (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:02:40
91 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 0:02:41
92 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:02:42
93 Kobe Goossens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:44
94 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:50
95 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:52
96 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 0:02:54
97 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:02:56
98 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:02:59
99 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:00
100 Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Lotto Soudal
101 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Team BikeExchange 0:03:05
102 Matthias Reutimann (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:03:10
103 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech 0:03:11
104 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:12
105 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
106 Mathias Norsgaard (Den) Movistar Team
107 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:03:16
108 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis 0:03:21
109 Chris Froome (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation 0:03:23
110 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:28
111 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:03:31
112 Sander Armée (Bel) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:03:36
113 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:47
114 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:51
115 Cyrille Thiery (Swi) Swiss National Team
116 Joab Schneiter (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:03:58
117 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:07
118 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:04:11
119 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis 0:04:18
120 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:05:05
DNS Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNS Jos van Emden (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
DNS Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates
DNS Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech

Final General Classification :
1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 17:59:57
2 Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:28
3 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:38
4 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:39
5 Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:43
6 Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team 0:00:45
7 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:01:08
8 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:01:22
9 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:30
10 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:20
11 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM 0:02:48
12 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:03:29
13 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:01
14 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma 0:04:20
15 Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:25
16 Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM 0:06:09
17 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:06:44
18 Simone Petilli (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:07:49
19 Magnus Cort (Den) EF Education-Nippo 0:07:54
20 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:07:59
21 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:08:05
22 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:10:38
23 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:47
24 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:11:16
25 Kobe Goossens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:11:35
26 Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:12:16
27 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious 0:12:19
28 Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:12:24
29 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:42
30 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:14:42
31 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:14:45
32 Felix Gall (Aut) Team DSM 0:14:48
33 Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:15:21
34 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:53
35 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Movistar Team 0:18:20
36 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:04
37 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:20:01
38 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Ineos Grenadiers 0:20:48
39 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:20:58
40 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:21:22
41 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:21:54
42 Damien Howson (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:22:10
43 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:22:21
44 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Education-Nippo 0:22:31
45 Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 0:22:33
46 Dion Smith (NZl) Team BikeExchange 0:22:53
47 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:23:05
48 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:23:49
49 Julien El Fares (Fra) EF Education-Nippo 0:24:05
50 Rodrigo Contreras Pinzon (Col) Astana-Premier Tech 0:24:50
51 Sergio Henao Montoya (Col) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:25:16
52 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation 0:25:23
53 Mathias Fluckiger (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:25:31
54 Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team 0:26:28
55 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team 0:26:43
56 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:26:55
57 Tejay van Garderen (USA) EF Education-Nippo 0:27:00
58 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Team BikeExchange 0:27:29
59 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:28:48
60 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Jumbo-Visma 0:29:14
61 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:29:32
62 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:30:55
63 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Team BikeExchange
64 Rob Power (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:31:00
65 Marco Brenner (Ger) Team DSM 0:31:14
66 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:32:00
67 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 0:33:48
68 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R Citroën Team 0:34:55
69 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:36:48
70 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:37:10
71 Jaakko Hänninen (Fin) AG2R Citroën Team 0:37:23
72 Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain Victorious 0:38:35
73 Diego Camargo Pineda (Col) EF Education-Nippo 0:38:40
74 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:38:55
75 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers 0:39:30
76 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:41:30
77 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:42:52
78 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:43:29
79 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain Victorious 0:45:01
80 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 0:45:12
81 Sander Armée (Bel) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:45:29
82 Javier Romo Oliver (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:45:46
83 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ 0:45:56
84 Chad Haga (USA) Team DSM 0:46:00
85 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Israel Start-up Nation 0:46:21
86 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:47:09
87 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo 0:48:08
88 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-Nippo 0:49:08
89 Tony Martin (Ger) Jumbo-Visma 0:49:51
90 Owain Doull (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:50:31
91 Josef Cerny (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:50:41
92 Joel Suter (Swi) Swiss National Team 0:51:50
93 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech 0:54:16
94 Thomas Champion (Fra) Cofidis 0:55:49
95 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:58:27
96 Chris Froome (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation 1:00:11
97 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos 1:00:25
98 Matthias Reutimann (Swi) Swiss National Team 1:02:34
99 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Team BikeExchange 1:02:49
100 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team 1:04:02
101 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 1:06:04
102 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 1:06:12
103 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis 1:06:22
104 Ian Garrison (USA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 1:07:40
105 Charlie Quarterman (GBr) Trek-Segafredo 1:07:59
106 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 1:08:57
107 Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe 1:12:02
108 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 1:15:51
109 Tom Bohli (Swi) Cofidis 1:16:41
110 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 1:17:08
111 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech 1:17:20
112 Joab Schneiter (Swi) Swiss National Team 1:19:15
113 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Qhubeka Assos 1:20:40
114 Cyrille Thiery (Swi) Swiss National Team 1:21:43
115 Mathias Norsgaard (Den) Movistar Team 1:23:10
116 Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Lotto Soudal 1:23:20
117 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 1:24:59
118 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis 1:25:17
119 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team 1:28:03
120 Claudio Imhof (Swi) Swiss National Team 1:30:55