Tour de Romandie: Bernal wins stage 3 time trial

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Egan Bernal (Team Sky) won stage 3 of the Tour de Romandie after he mastered the mountain time trial at Villars, while Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) produced a storming performance in the final kilometres to place second on the stage and retain the yellow jersey of overall leader.

Roglic recouped ground in the finale to limit his losses on Bernal to 4 seconds, and thus carries a lead of 6 seconds over the Colombian into the final two days of racing, while Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) now lies third overall, 27 seconds down.

Friday's 9.9km test was a difficult one to gauge, but Bernal seemed to pace his ride perfectly on the road from Ollon. Porte had the quickest time at the 4.5km mark, and when Bernal came through the same point some 9 seconds down, it looked as though the Australian was set for the stage victory.

Bernal took flight on the upper slopes, however, and he would recoup considerable ground by the summit. He rose repeatedly from the saddle in the closing kilometres and hit the finish line some 18 seconds quicker than Porte to depose the Australian from the hot seat. Bernal explained afterwards that he had raced according to his power-meter, and was not influenced by the time checks he heard out on the course.

"My coach told me you need to do your own numbers. It doesn't matter about the times of any other riders," Bernal said. "I just tried to do my numbers and I won, and I am so happy for that."

Even with six riders left to finish, it was already clear that only Roglic could deny Bernal the stage win. The race leader reached the checkpoint some 18 seconds behind Porte and nine behind Bernal, but he dosed his effort well over the closing kilometres. Although he was unable to prevent Bernal from winning the stage, Roglic did enough to retain his yellow jersey and maintain his hopes of final overall victory.

The GC battle at this Tour de Romandie now appears to have been reduced to a three-way tussle between Roglic and the only two riders within a minute of him, Bernal and Porte. While most riders opted for the lightest possible road bike, Porte added a pair of tri bars to his machine and spent much of the race seated in an aerodynamic tuck. It helped to carry him to the best time at the midway point, but he had to give best to the flying Bernal over the closing kilometres.

Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) rode strongly to take 4th on the stage, 48 seconds down on Bernal, though even after setting the provisional best time, he was mindful of the quality of riders still to follow. "It's hard to pace an uphill TT because you have to have something left for the finish," Kruijswijk said. "My time is quite good but there's still a lot of good riders coming."

Despite the quality of riders that followed, Kruijswijk's time proved a tough out, and he moves up to 4th place overall, 1:02 behind his teammate Roglic, putting LottoNL-Jumbo in a solid position ahead of the final weekend.

Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) produced a consistent ride to take fifth on the stage, 1:06 behind Bernal, and the former world champion occupies the same position in the general classification.

Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) quietly underlined his pre-Giro form with seventh place on a time trial course ill-suited to his characteristics, and the final weekend of racing should provide some interesting indications ahead of the corsa rosa.

Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) had a short stint in the hot seat earlier in the afternoon after producing a very rapid finish to his time trial effort, and though he slipped to eighth by day's end, it might augur well for what is still to come in this race.

It was a rather more trying afternoon for Geraint Thomas (Team Sky), who never found his rhythm on the short but explosive test, and the Welshman lost all hope of overall victory as he came home some 2:33 behind his teammate Bernal.

The time gaps on the short test proved rather more substantial than one might have anticipated. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), for instance, looked relatively pleased when he crossed the line with the provisional best time early in the afternoon, but he ended the day in 13th place, 1:48 down on Bernal and seemingly out of the hunt for the yellow jersey.

Saturday's stage 4 will provide a robust test of Roglic's hold on the garment, as the Tour de Romandie peloton faces no fewer than five mountain passes on a leg that starts and finishes in Sion. The summit of the category 1 Les Collons comes 27km from the line, before the rapid drop to the finish in Sion.

"Tomorrow is a very hard stage," Bernal said. "For sure we will try, but it will be a little difficult."

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