Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) has taken a surprise victory in the opening prologue of the Tour de Romandie, with lead favourite Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finishing a full seven seconds behind.
The 29-year-old Frenchman timed his effort perfectly for the short but intense race against the clock round the town of Villars-sur-Glâne, reaching the top of the final 800 metre climb six seconds faster than closest rival Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl - Trek) Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was just a few hundredths of a second slower but had to settle for third.
Making his debut in the Tour de Romandie and the last of 103 riders to tackle the 3.2 kilometre course, Pogačar delivered a solid, incident-free performance in his first time trial of 2026.
Yet two days after his victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège rounded out his stunning Classics campaign, the Slovenian could not come closer than seven seconds on Godon, who celebrated his fourth win of 2026, the 20th of his career, and his first in a time trial since the Boucles de Mayenne prologue way back in 2019.
"I got fourth here two years ago in the prologue, time trialling's a discipline that I appreciate," Godon said, "Particularly if they're punchy efforts like this one.
"We won here last year with Sam [Watson, teammate] so we know what it takes to do well here in a prologue and I measured my effort very well.
"Overall, I can't be sure what I'm capable of doing here, it's a very difficult course, but just having the jersey on day one is already a big success."
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How it unfolded
Pogačar in action (Image credit: Dario Belingheri / Staff)
Amongst the most notable of the early starters, 2020 Portuguese National TT Champion Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) narrowly outpaced former double overall winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) by just over two seconds to set the fastest provisional time of 3:41. Second in the same opening prologue in 2025, Oliveira's top ride also contrasted sharply with a lowkey performance from Australian contender Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), who finished 11 seconds down, while another top name, Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers), was a full 18 seconds adrift.
Finally, though, Oliveira was unseated by Ineos Grenadiers allrounder Godon by a hefty six-second margin, reducing the top time to beat for the stage to just 3:35. The 23rd of the 103 starters on the day, despite his chain unshipping briefly mid-way through the course, Godon's provisional best time then endured unexpectedly long into the largely dry, mild afternoon in deepest rural west Switzerland.
Swiss National TT champion Mauro Schmid, despite racing on home soil, was unable to come closer than seven seconds on Godon. But on such a short course, even the smallest of errors left potential top finishers out of the running and it looked increasingly as if Godon, despite his minor mid-stage technical issue, had put in a near-faultless performance.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Yet another national TT champion on the startlist, Sweden's Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl - Trek), was unable to do more than come within six seconds of Godon, although that finally netted him the Best Young Rider's jersey at the end of the day. But even as the last ten starters in the field went through their final preparations, still nobody was able to overhaul or even really threaten the Frenchman's hold on the top of the ranking.
Some, like a former Romandie prologue winner like Slovenian veteran Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), simply eased around the circuit, apparently saving their energy for the remaining five very hilly stages to come. That sense of disinterest, in any case, only further heightened the interest in what a certain, much younger compatriot of Tratnik's could do a few minutes later.
Followed by a small convoy of motorized photographers, despite this being his first time trial of 2026, Pogačar certainly did not look out of his element as he blasted along the opening flat part of the course without any incidents. Only his shoulders swaying slightly on the lower, slightly steadier part of the final climb that followed back in the town of Villars-sur-Glâne perhaps spoke of the effort and long transfer he'd had to make from Liège on Sunday evening simply to reach the race.
However, the hardest part of the climb, right at the top in the city centre, was still to come. And for all Pogačar stood out of the saddle to do his utmost to make inroads on Godon's time on a late series of curves and bends, he finally crossed the finish line in sixth.
While Pogačar remains well placed for his overall challenge all the same, Godon will now defend his lead on Romandie's first mass-start stage of the 20226. This is an undulating 171-kilometre leg starting and finishing in Martigny, and with the nine-kilometre cat. 1 ascent of Ovronnaz as its main challenge.
However, the punishingly steep climb with an average gradient of 9.8% climb peaks out at 35 kilometres from the finish. On paper that's more than enough distance for dropped riders to regain contact, so the most likely scenario for the finale is a small bunch sprint. Meanwhile, Pogačar can bide his time and wait for the mountains of next weekend.
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
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