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Tour de Romandie 2019: Stage 1

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168km remaining from 168km

Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida) wears the yellow jersey after winning yesterday's prologue. The general classification picture is as follows:

The peloton is being propelled by a tailwind in the initial part of the stage and there is a brisk pace in these opening kilometres.

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The escapees are swinging away from Lac de Neuchatel and towards the first of the day's climbs, the category 2 haul up Fontanezier.

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The break's lead extends to 1:40 on the climb, though Thomson is beginning to lose contact with the move.

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A number of riders in the peloton were struggling on that climb, including Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep). It's been a brisk start to proceedings and there is precious little respite to be had all day long.

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A reminder of the 12 riders at the head of the race: Chad Haga (Team Sunweb), Diego Rosa (Team Ineos), Eros Capecchi (Deceuninck-QuickStep), William Bonnet (Groupama-FDJ), Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe), Simon Pellaud (Switzerland), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo-Visma), Lukasz Owsian (CCC Team), Patrick Schelling (Switzerland), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) and Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates).

The twelve leaders approach the summit of the day's second climb, the category 2 Mauborget, still with a lead of almost two minutes on the peloton.

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Away from the Tour de Romandie, Team Sky formally became Team Ineos today at a launch in Yorkshire. Amid great secrecy, journalists were requested to convene this morning at King’s Cross Station – we can only assume at Platform 9¾ – before catching a train to be briefed by fracking’s Jim Ratcliffe and management speak’s Dave Brailsford at an undisclosed location. Dan Benson has this dispatch from Blofeld’s lair, aka Linton, Yorkshire.

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Defending champion Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) is using the Tour de Romandie to fine tune his form for the Giro d'Italia, but he put himself in pole position to retain his title with second place in yesterday's prologue. The Slovenian spent much of April training at altitude, but hit the ground running in Neuchatel. "I've just returned from an altitude camp, so you always have to see and find out how things look to be going. My shape and my prospects, however, are good," said Roglic. Read more here.

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Alex Dowsett (Katusha-Alpecin) has crashed in the peloton and has been forced to abandon the race. The Briton had begun the Tour de Romandie with a solid 6th place in yesterday's prologue.

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There has been a considerable injection of urgency in the peloton on this climb, and the break's lead has dropped inside three minutes. Once again, a number of riders are being dropped from the rear of the bunch as the gradient stiffens.

EF Education first are setting the pace in the peloton on the climb as the break's advantage falls further.

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The speed remains high in the peloton over other side of the climb and the break's lead has dropped inside two minutes.

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Away from the Tour de Romandie, Marcel Kittel has pulled out of this week's Tour de Yorkshire, citing health issues. Read more here.

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The race approaches the finish line in Le Chaux-de-Fonds for the first time before tackling a 54km loop that takes in the Col de la Vue des Alpes and the Col de la Tourne. 1:30 the gap. 

Jumbo-Visma, Bahrain-Merida and EF Education First lead the peloton in pursuit of the escapees. Viviani, meanwhile, is in a group some 6 minutes down on the leaders.

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Gougeard, Pellaud, Rosa, Haga, Capecchi, Owsian, Vingegaard and Vanhoucke are the eight riders who remain at the front on the approach to the summit of the penultimate climb.

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Jumbo-Visma are contributing to the pace-setting at the head of the peloton, which allows Vingegaard licence to sit on the back of the break.

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The escapees are caught. Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) sets the tempo at the head of a reduced peloton, but there are still a number of fast men in situ in this group. 

Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) goes on the offensive and Carthy follows. This duo has a small lead over the bunch.

Overall leader Jan Tratnik is in difficulty on the climb and he loses contact with the bunch. He will not wear the yellow jersey tomorrow.

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Hugh Carthy has resumed his pace-making duties at the head of the bunch. He brings Elissonde and Peters to heel, and he is also whittling down the peloton significantly on this climb. GC men like Geraint Thomas and Ilnur Zakarin are placed towards the front keeping an eye on proceedings.

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The climbing doesn't end with the Col de la Tourne this afternoon. There are still some unclassified undulations before the finish, and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) takes advantage of one to go on the offensive.

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Buchmann begins an unclassified climb with a lead of 38 seconds over the chasing group. The German shows no signs of relenting. Van Baarle takes up the chase in the bunch.

Geraint Thomas attacks from the peloton on this climb and has David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) for company as they open a small gap.

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Thomas is delivering his most notable display of the season so far. The Welshman is cruising across the gap towards Buchmann with Gaudu on his wheel. Woods is on the brink of joining them.

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Primoz Roglic senses the danger and the Slovenian is hurtling down the descent at the head of the peloton in pursuit of Thomas et al.

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Gaudu accelerates on the front, but it won't prevent the four leaders from being caught by this fragmenting group of favourites.

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Carlos Betancur (Movistar) bridges across to Thomas, and this duo approaches the finish with a small lead over the chasing group...

Thomas and Betancur are caught within sight of the line. Howson opens the sprint from distance, but Roglic and Gaudu are also prominent...

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) wins stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie.

Roglic delivered a fine sprint to hold off Gaudu for the stage honours. The Slovenian will also take over the yellow jersey from his fellow countryman Jan Tratnik.

Result:

General classification after stage 1:

 

Primoz Roglic is asked if he was expecting to win today's stage. "Not really. It was more to start racing again after quite some time after Tirreno. It was a really hard day for me, not easy with a lot of climbs but at the end I managed to come with a smaller group to the end. It’s nice to win the sprint because I’ve lost quite a lot in the sprint, it’s a nice feeling that I’ve finally won," says Roglic, who downplays his prospects of overall victory. "We'll just see. I’m going day by day. Steven [Kruijswijk] is a really strong guy we have here also. We go day by day and for sure we will try to do our best."

Thanks for following our live coverage of the Tour de Romandie this afternoon. We'll be back with more tomorrow. In the meantime, you'll find a full report, results and pictures of stage 1 here.

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