Tour de Romandie: Matthews wins prologue

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Michael Matthews (Sunweb) won stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie after pipping Tom Bohli (BMC Racing) and Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) in the testing 4km time trial in Fribourg.

The surprising Bohli spent much of the afternoon in the hot seat after setting the quickest mark early on, and his closest challenger was his teammate Rohan Dennis, who finished just fractions of a second outside his time, good enough for fourth place come the end of the day.

Bohli was ultimately denied the biggest win of his career by Matthews, who delivered a perfectly-timed effort on the stiff climb to the finish to come home a second inside the Swiss rider’s mark.

“It was a little bit of a surprise because I didn’t have such a good day in Liege on Sunday,” said Matthews. “I had one easy day yesterday and then straight back into it today. I didn’t know how my legs were going to feel but I just gave it my best and it was enough to win.”

It was Matthews’ maiden victory of a 2018 campaign that began on a trying note when he fractured his shoulder in his first race, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The Australian returned in time to place seventh at Milan-San Remo and battle in the cobbled Classics, but he endured further ill fortune when a late puncture ended his challenge at Amstel Gold Race.

A fine fifth place at Flèche Wallonne last week suggested that Matthews had hit something approaching top form, although he was some nine minutes off the pace in the finale of a tough Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday.

Tuesday’s time trial, however, was short, technical and punchy, and thus well-suited to Matthews’ characteristics, who opted for a regular time trial machine rather than a road bike for the test. He mastered the early twists and turns, and had enough in reserve to power up the final climb and claim the win.

“It was a really beautiful course,” Matthews said. “In the recon I thought it was maybe a little bit sketchy but when you were coming at high speed it was fine and I actually had a lot of fun out there today.

“I’ve always watched this race. I started in 2013 and got sick after first time trial so this is pretty much my first time in the Tour of Romandie and I’m stoked to get the win on the first stage.”

The 24-year-old Bohli has demonstrated an aptitude for short time trials during his career to date and was inspired by racing on home roads, but he admitted to surprise at clocking such a fast time ahead of such notable names.

“It’s pretty unbelievable. It was my first chrono for the entire year. I was really nervous, I had stomach ache and so I can’t explain why it went well. Perhaps the nervousness helped me to get into the flow," Bohli told Eurosport.

GC battle

Matthews was among the final tranche of starters, and when Roglic, the next man over the line, was unable to better his mark, the Australian must have realised that he was within touching distance of his first victory of 2018.

Of the later starters, only Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) threatened Matthews’ time, but the Welshman had to settle for sixth, five seconds behind the Sunweb rider. Thomas was satisfied with a performance that positions him well for to challenge for the general classification later in the week.

“There was a lot to think about and that was a hard last final 800m,” Thomas said. “I think that I rode it okay, and got it all out, but looking back you always think that there were a few corners that you could have taken quicker. I needed Liege in my legs really because it’s been a while since racing. It was a tough course. Explosive and bang once you’re out there it’s done. It was like a track effort really.”

Richie Porte (BMC Racing) was the last man down the start ramp, but the defending champion never looked like threatening the leaderboard. He rolled home 14 seconds down in 18th place, and thus remains a threat in the battle for final overall victory.

Other notable performers included the Team Sky pairing of Diego Rosa (eighth at six seconds) and Egan Bernal (11th at 11 seconds), as well as Pierre Rolland (EF Education First-Drapac), who limited his losses to just 11 seconds.

Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) each conceded 19 seconds, perennial podium challenger Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) lost 20 seconds, while Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) placed 39th at 22 seconds, and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), on Classics duty last week, had to settle for 60th at 25 seconds.

Matthews will carry the yellow jersey and an advantage of one-second into Wednesday’s stage 1 from Fribourg to Delémont, though he was coy about his prospects of defending his lead or even adding another stage victory.

“I’ll think I’ll just enjoy this win for now, it’s my first win of the season. It takes a bit of the pressure off for the next days,” Matthews said. “Everything’s been getting better since the start of the year, and I’m just happy to get the win today.”

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