Stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie gives a glimpse of what might have been, as the peloton tackles terrain that was earmarked for the 2020 World Championships, earmarked for Aigle and Martigny but later moved to Imola due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The stage get underway at 13.05 local time and there are some 2200m of climbing across the day's 168km.
Rohan Dennis wears the yellow jersey after his victory in yesterday's prologue time trial and Ineos occupy the top three places on general classification after Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte's strong displays. World time trial champion Filippo Ganna, meanwhile, sits in 9th overall.
General classification after prologue
The Tour de Romandie peloton has rolled out of Aigle for the start of stage 1. They are navigating a 5.2km neutralised zone before the official start.
The opening part of the stage brings the peloton down the Rhône valley from Aigle to Martigny, taking in the category 3 climb of La Rasse after 12.2km. On reaching Martigny, the peloton tackles four laps of a 33km circuit over the category 3 ascents of Produit and Chamoson. The summit of the final climb comes 22km from the finish line.
-168km
Almost inevitably, Simon Pellaud - riding here with the Swiss national team - is among the early attackers. He is joined by Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-Citroën) , Kobe Goossens (Lotto Soudal) and Dylan Sunderland (Qhubeka-Assos).
-165km
Manuele Boaro (Astana Premier Tech), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Thymen Arensman (DSM), Rob Power (Qhubeka-Assos) and Thomas Champion (Cofidis) manage to bridge across to the two escapees to form a seven-man group at the front.
-161km
Correction: Thomas Champion (Cofidis) hasn't yet made it across to the break. At the foot of the climb of La Rasse (2.4km at 8.3%), there are six riders in front with a lead of 15 seconds over Champion and 45 over the peloton.
-157km.
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Joel Suter (Switzerland) led Boaro, Conca and the rest of the break over the climb of La Rasse. Suter is here in the colours of the Swiss national team but he is in his second season at Pro Continental level with Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles. He rode strongly at last year's Tour du Limousin, placing second to a flying Fernando Gaviria on stage 2 to earn a spell in the leader's jersey.
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The leading sextet are onto the circuit and tackling the first of four ascents of Produit. The category 3 climb is 2.6km long with an average gradient of 7.2% and maximum slopes of 12%. A descent of under 3km brings the race to the category 3 ascent of Chamoson, which is 2.2km long with an average gradient of 5.9% and maximum pitches of 9%.
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Joel Suter appears to be a man on a mission this afternoon. The Swiss rider is first to the top of Produit to extend his virtual lead in the king of the mountains classification. Boaro was next over the line, followed by Conca and Power.
Diego Ulissi's career looked in doubt during the winter when he was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, after an irregular heartbeat was detected during pre-season training. Testing in the Riuniti hospital in Ancona in January ruled out the possibility of congenital heart disease, and Ulissi was given the all-clear to resume training and return to competition. His first race back was the GP Miguel Indurain and he also rode Itzulia Basque Country, but he and his team were forced out of Flèche Wallonne after an apparent positive test for COVID-19, though this was later shown to be a false positive. The Tuscan was since named on the provisional start list for the Giro d'Italia, which was published yesterday.
-119km
Situation
Ineos continue to set the tempo in the peloton and their pace-making efforts have shaved the break's lead back a little further. 4:36 is the gap.
-113km
Thymen Arensman (DSM) only turned 21 in December but he had already completed his first Grand Tour, placing 41st overall at last year's Vuelta a España. He placed third behind Tim Wellens on stage 5 to Sabiñanigo and he was up there again at Oursense on stage 14, when Wellens was again the victor. Arensman only turned pro midway through last season, stepping up from SEG Racing. His most notable calling card as an amateur was placing second behind one Tadej Pogačar on the 2018 Tour de l'Avenir, when he was still only 18 years of age.
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Suter tacks on another five to his haul of mountains classification points as he leads Boaro, Power and Ulissi over the second climb of Produit. After a quick desent, the leaders are now climbing Chamoson.
-90km
An important clarification from the Tour de Romandie organisation. Race radio mistakenly identified Diego Ulissi as being in the break when it has been, in fact, Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-Citroën) all along. The perils of reporting on a race before live television pictures are available...
And here is the photographic evidence. The break is composed of Filippo Conca (Lotto Soudal), Joel Suter (Switzerland), Manuele Boaro (Astana Premier Tech), Thymen Arensman (DSM), Rob Power (Qhubeka-Assos) and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-Citroën).
-78km
-77km
Situation
-74km
The six leaders are collaborating smoothly with a lead of just under 4 minutes over the peloton.
-65km
Filippo Conca is in his first season as a professional and he began his time at Lotto Soudal with the mountains classification at the Tour de la Provence. The Italian hails from I promessi sposi country near Lecco and he was 5th overall in each of the past two editions of the U23 Giro d'Italia.
The six-man break begins its third ascent of Produit with a lead of 3:24 over the peloton. They continue to swap turns on the front pretty smoothly as they climb.
Suter is content to sit near the back of the break for the time being, but he will surely move up as they approch the summit.
Suter takes over in the final kilometre of the climb of Produit. Ineos, meanwhile, continue to lay down the tempo behind, and the peloton has closed to within 2:49 of the escapees.
-61km
Or perhaps not... Suter, having initially knocked off his pace after the sprint, opts to press on alone on the descent towards the base of Chamoson. The peloton crests the summit at 2:50.
Suter begins the climb to Chamoson with a lead of 15 seconds or so over the rest of the break.
Eddie Dunabar sits the pace for Ineos at the head of the peloton on the climb to Chamoson, 2:49 down on the lone leader Suter, who has extended his advantage over the rest of the break.
-55km
Situation
-52km
There are menacing dark clouds overhead but the forecast rain hasn't materialised just yet and the sun is still occasionally poking through the clouds.
Juraj Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) comes to the front of the peloton to join the Ineos chase effort. The final lap of this circuit might whittle down the peloton, but his brother Peter would expect to make the selection for a reduced bunch sprint in Martigny.
-48km
The six leaders are still committed and still collaboaring even after Suter's solo effort. Their lead remains just over 2 minutes, but that gap will srely stgart to come down over the final two climbs. Meanwhile, Tsgavu Grmay joins the chase effort at the head of the peloton on behalf of his BikeExchange teammate Dion Smith.
BikeExchange and Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe squad are the only sprint teams to shown their hands so far. It's possible that the Cofidis squad of Elia Viviani might wait until after the final Produit-Chamoson combination before committing to the chase.
-43km
A crash in the peloton sees Javier Romo (Astana Premier Tech) and the Jumbo-Visma duo of Gijs Leemreize and Christoph Pfingsten get tangled up, but all three remount and rejoin the fray.
Bahrain Victorious join BikeExchange and Bora-Hansgrohe in the chase effort, with an eye to Phil Bauhaus' sprint chances.
Romo's shredded kit shows cuts on his left shoulder and hit as well as his elbow, but the Spaniard is back on his bike and chasing the rear of the peloton.
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Ineos are back holding the reins in the bunch at the base of the climb to Produit, with Geraint Thomas, Rohan Dennis and Richie Porte all prominent near the front.
Arsensman pushes on the pace in the break, and the speed is too much for Gougeard, who is dropped. The rest of the escapees won't last much longer if the peloton continues at its current rate of knots.
Gougeard has been caught by the peloton, where Filippo Ganna sets the pace. The five remaining escapees are still 19 seconds clear, with Arsensman and Suter the strongest of the quintet.
Power is dropped from the break and Conca and Boaro are also struggling to follow.
Theym
Arensman's forcing is too much for the rest of the break on the slopes of Produit and the Dutch youngster presses clear alone.
-26km
The remnants of the break have been caught by the peloton. Arensman, meanwhile, defends a lead of a dozen or so seconds on the descent.
-23.5km
This climb is easier than the ascent to Produit, but it won't necessairly feel that way for Arensman, who climbs out of the saddle in a bid to hold off the chasing peloton.
-23km
Arensman takes a long look over his shoulder. He might just hang on to the top of the final climb, but the peloton is almost upon him.
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The riders dropped from the peloton on the final lap of the circuit are 28 seconds down. Dion Smith, Peter Sagan, Jake Stewart and Sonny Colbrelli are among the fast men in the front group, but it's not immediately clear if any of the sprinters missed the split.
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Cattaneo takes a flyer from the break, but Howson and Reichenbach are wise to the move and bring him back.
-8km
EF Education Nippo are contributing now on behalf of Magnus Cort, with Ecuadorian champion Jonathan Caicedo prominent.
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Küng hits the front and puts in a big turn. EF Nippo Education have a small delegation here for Cort.
-2km
Philippe Gilbert and Iljo Keisse are also moving up ahead of the flamme rouge.
-1km
Colbrelli sits in second wheel through the final right-hand turn. Sagan is tucked in fourth place.
Colbrelli opens the sprint from distance but Sagan is quickly upon him...
Sagan hits the front...
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) wins stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie.
Sagan tracked Colbrelli's wheel and then drew level with him inside the final 150m. Once he got half a wheel in front, he never gave up the lead. The three-time world champion managed to maintain his speed over the closing metres to hold off Colbrelli for the win, while Patrick Bevin (Israel Start-Up Nation) took third ahead of Andrea Pasqualon (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert).
Result
General classification
Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) was straightforward in his appraisal. "I went from too far out and I had Peter on my wheel. He came past me with 50m to go. The team did great work and it’s just a pity I went from too far out. That’s how it was. I wasn’t bad, I sprinted well, but it’s a pity it was a second-place finish."
Overall leader Rohan Dennis (Ineos): "We just rode a good tempo and made sure we kept the breakaway close so the sprinters' teams would come up and help later in the stage. It was pretty straightforward. Tomorrow will be more complicated, we'll see what the legs can do. There's a little bit more climbing than today. But if I go down, I'll go down swinging, but we've got two guys [Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte] who can climb with the best in the world so it's no stress for me. If there's three of us left and the guys need me to ride on the front even in this jersey, then I'll ride. That's the rank in the team. Those guys can fight out who's first, but I'm definitely third behind them."
Peter Sagan on his victory: "I’m very happy my teammates kept the bunch all together under control. After we went into the last 5km, Merida-Bahrain were leading the bunch. I saw it was going to be headwind in the last kilometre so I chose Colbrelli’s wheel, and in the end I said it was going to be a hard sprint because of the headwind, so it was better to be a little bit back. After the last 300m, I overtook one guy, from Israel, I think, and after I took the wheel of Colrelli and after I passed him.
A full report, pictures and results from today's stage are available here.
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