Start times for Tour de Romandie prologue time trial

The Tour de Romandie kicks off in traditional fashion with a short, sharp prologue time trial that will set the scene and make the initial time gaps in the weeklong battle for overall victory. 2017 winner Richie Porte (BMC Racing) will be the last man down the ramp as he looks to get his defence off to a strong start.

The 4.2-kilometre effort takes place around the streets of the medieval city of Fribourg. It is a fast, but technical course that features both sharp and sweeping bends that could catch some out. Fabio Felline took a surprise victory in last year’s prologue in Aigle, beating Alex Dowsett by two seconds on the similarly long course.

Felline is recovering from illness and is not at the race this year but there are plenty of riders to keep an eye on for the stage victory.

Wanty-Groupe Gobert’s Marco Minaard starts proceedings at 15:13 local time with 2010 winner Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) second off the ramp a minute later.

Spilak is not a noted time triallist, nor is fellow GC hopeful Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates), who sets off soon after at 15:17. Svein Tuft (Mitchelton-Scott), who begins at 15:29, is likely to set the first benchmark for the day.

Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) has opted to ride the Tour de Romandie as final preparation for the Giro d'Italia this year and should be in strong form with the Corsa Rosa less than two weeks away. Dennis sets off at 15:50 and will be one of the favourites for the stage win. His teammate Porte, who sets off at 17:25 local time, could also come away with the stage win.

The start times are stacked in such a manner that Dennis could have a long wait to see if his time will be strong enough to take the victory, with most of the time trial specialists amongst the final 30 riders to start.

Other potential stage winners are Jonathan Castroviejo (16:38), Stef Clement (16:54), Paris-Roubaix runner-up Silvan Dillier (16:58), Tejay van Garderen (17:06), Alex Dowsett (17:08), Stephen Cummings (17:09), Primoz Roglic (17:13), Mathias Brandle (17:15, Geraint Thomas (17:16) and Ion Izagirre (17:20).

Roglic, Thomas and Izagirre will be particularly interesting to watch as they are likely to be up there in the fight for the overall classification at the end of the week, as is Gorka Izagirre (16:23) and Jakob Fuglsang (17:18).

Follow all of the Tour de Romandie live each day on Cyclingnews here.

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Start times