Meersman sprints to Romandie stage 1 victory

Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) claimed stage one of the Tour de Romandie with a well-timed sprint that saw him edge out Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Leopard) and Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) in the bunch finish in Renens, while Chris Froome (Sky) retained the overall lead.

Meersman began the day sharing leadership duties with Mark Cavendish for Omega Pharma-QuickStep but he assumed full control when the Manxman was dropped from the peloton on the stage’s primary difficulty, the Col du Mollendruz.

“The tactic before the stage was that if Mark was still there, we were going to ride for him. If not, then it was for me,” said Meersman, who claimed his third win of the campaign after snatching a brace of victories at the Volta a Catalunya last month.

The long drop from the summit of the Col du Mollendruz to the finish in Renens was the platform for late escapees Jérémy Roy (FDJ) and Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling) to try and upset the odds, but their resistance fell away when the road flattened out and they were swept up with 8 kilometres to go.

The finale itself was not a technical one but the plethora of teams looking to place their fastmen at the head of the bunch still meant that it was complicated to negotiate, with no one squad controlling affairs. Matteo Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) tried to take advantage of the confusion by zipping off the front with two kilometres to go, but a sterling effort from Marcus Burghardt (BMC) brought the bunch back together underneath the red kite.

Ultimately, it was Argos-Shimano’s Luka Mezgec who led out the sprint, but Meersman was well-placed and he unleashed his effort after the final, gentle right-hand curve to come past Nizzolo and hold off Ferrari for the win.

“It was a hard stage but the team worked perfectly,” Meersman said. “With 500 metres to go, I had to brake but I managed to get going again and take the win. It wasn’t an easy finish.”

Astana had been prominent in bringing back the late breakaway alongside Omega Pharma-QuickStep, but their man Francesco Gavazzi could only manage 6th in the sprint, one place ahead of the fancied Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge).

How it unfolded

The stage got under way without Orica-GreenEdge’s other fast man, Michael Matthews, as well as Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM), and the early break went clear almost as soon as the flag was dropped, with Julien Berard (Ag2r La Mondiale), Garikoitz Bravo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and David Veilleux (Europcar) clipping off the front inside the opening kilometres.

The trio built up a lead of 5 minutes over the Sky-led peloton by the 60km point, but their advantage began to tumble gradually on the approach to the Col du Mollendruz and their cause was not helped by the injection in pace sparked by a counter attack featuring José Rujano (Vacansoleil-DCM), Adriano Malori (Lampre-Merida), Danilo Wyss (BMC) and Peio Bilbao (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The escapees were eventually swept up on the lower slopes of the Mollendruz, as Vasil Kiryienka set the tempo for Team Sky and although Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Pierre Rolland (Europcar) succeeded in slipping clear over the summit, they were never allowed to gain more than 15 seconds and were reeled in on the descent.

Brandle was the next to try his luck 25km from home, with Roy succeeding in making it across to the Austrian’s back wheel. The pair collaborated smoothly and opened out a margin of 25 seconds with 15km to go, but once the road flattened out, it was clear that the bunch finish would be inevitable, and it was the ambitious Meersman who emerged victorious.

“I want to win another stage – either tomorrow or the day after,” said Meersman, who joined Omega Pharma-QuickStep in the off-season thanks to a clause in his contract with Lotto Belisol that allowed him to move during the period of uncertainty over their WorldTour licence.

The main general classification contenders all finished together in the main peloton, and Chris Froome retains his six-second lead over Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), while Robert Kiserlovski (RadioShack Leopard) remains third, 13 seconds down.

The Tour de Romandie continues on Thursday with a 190km stage from Prilly to Granges.

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