Tour de Romandie: Tratnik wins prologue

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Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida) claimed victory in the prologue of the Tour de Romandie, beating his fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) into second place in the 3.8km time trial in Neuchâtel.

Just a second separated the top three riders in the technical time trial, with Tom Bohli (UAE Team Emirates) placing third, but the day belonged to the surprising Tratnik, who is national champion in the discipline.

The 29-year-old Tratnik is in only his second season at WorldTour level. He raced for QuickStep in 2011 but spent the following years on Continental and Pro Continental teams before returning to the top flight with Bahrain-Merida this year. Victory on the opening day of the Tour de Romandie is the most prestigious of the Ljubljana native’s career to date, and he admitted surprise at beating his friend and compatriot Roglic into second place.

"For sure I have surprised myself but I still believed on that sort of parcours like today I can do a really good result. I just focused on the road and tried to do everything at 100 percent and here, today, I have won the prologue so it is nice," Tratnik said.

"It's my first WorldTour win so for sure it's a really special win. Normally every time Primoz beats me. We're really good friends but today I beat him so it's a nice feeling."

The defending champion Roglic is back at the Tour de Romandie to fine-tune his form for the Giro d'Italia. The Slovenian arrived at the race after a lengthy stint of altitude training, but he showed no signs of fatigue as he produced a composed performance in the explosive time trial. His was the provisional best time until Tratnik knocked him off top spot and he gained an early advantage on his rivals for final overall victory.

Roglic was not the only impressive performer from Jumbo-Visma. Although the course was shorter and hillier than he would have liked, Tony Martin spent a chunk of the afternoon in the hot seat before ultimately settling for 4th place on the stage, 4 seconds down on Tratnik.

It was an encouraging afternoon, too, for Geraint Thomas (Ineos), who recorded his best result of the year to date by placing 5th on the stage, just behind Martin. The Welshman has had a subdued campaign to this point and the Tour de Romandie marks a pivotal race in his build-up to the defence of his Tour de France title.

Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) has been a consistent performer at the Tour de Romandie over the years and the former world champion began his overall challenge on a solid note here with 10th place, 5 seconds down on Tratnik.

Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) had to settle for 21st place, 8 seconds off the pace, while 2015 overall winner Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) conceded some 17 seconds after placing 77th on the stage.

Tour of Turkey winner Felix Grosschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) placed 13th on the stage, 6 seconds down, while David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), fresh from an aggressive showing at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, limited his losses on the day to 9 seconds.

After setting a new Hour Record earlier this month, Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) returned to the road in Neuchâtel but his hopes of stage victory were dashed by a crash. The European time trial champion picked himself back up to finish the stage, but was last on the day, over a minute down on Tratnik.

Wednesday's opening road stage of the Tour de Romandie brings the peloton to Le Chaux-de-Fonds, and the 170km leg features some 3400 metres of total climbing.

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