Tour de Romandie: Teuns snatches victory from Dennis on stage 1

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Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious) has won a spectacular uphill duel against Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) in a crash-blighted stage one of the Tour of Romandie, although the Australian could nonetheless claim the considerable consolation prize of moving into the overall lead.

Former leader and prologue winner Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) was amongst dozens of riders losing time in a major late pile-up. The Briton fell heavily and at speed and was significantly delayed but finally could continue to the finish.

Some 50 riders were left ahead of the race-shaping crash and in a position to dispute the stage, which culminated with a brutally steep one-kilometre climb into the  hilltop town of Romont.

A searing, early attack by Dennis looked almost certain to carry the Australian to victory, but Teuns timed his counter-move perfectly and squeezed past his rival almost on the line.

Already the winner of La Flèche Wallonne a week ago, the Belgian said, “I knew from the profile that this was a finish that suited me.

“My teammates told me how it was the same climb three years ago in the race, too, but I still  had to wait until the last time.

“Dennis’ attack was quite a surprise, going from so far. I had to push all the way the way to the line. I felt confident, but timing was very important.”

Looking ahead and following his impressive late attack, Dennis has a slender advantage  of 16 seconds on second-placed Felix Grosschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe).  After two exciting but hotly disputed stages, though, nearly 50 more riders remain at a minute on GC.

How it unfolded

Amidst a volley of early attacks along the shores of Lake Neuchâtel, a five-man move eventually emerged as break of the day that included Julius Johansen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Tim Naberman (Team DSM), Antoine Debons and Valère Thiébaud (both Switzerland) and Thomas Champion (Cofidis).

Ineos Grenadiers kept their options open on prologue winner and race leader Hayter, though, as the British team led the pack at a relentlessly-steady pace for much of the rolling, sunlit stage, ensuring the quintet did not get above four minutes ahead.

Notably active in breakaways in the recent Tour of the Alps, Costa Rican Andrei Amador adopted more of a team role for Ineos Grenadiers in the opening road stage of Romandie. His work proved instrumental in helping the pack reel the last two survivors of the early move, Champion and Debons, with around 40 kilometres to go.

However, when a huge pile-up late in the stage ripped through the second half of the peloton, Hayter was at the back of the pack. Such was the impact of the crash that he and several other top names, including Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) and Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost) were abruptly left out of the running.

Down to just three riders including defending Romandie champion Geraint Thomas, Ineos Grenadiers continued to pile on the pressure. Their limited numbers meant when French road champion Rémi Cavagna (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) erupted out of the peloton, pulling back a late breakaway specialist of his calibre was going to be quite a task.

A timely few kilometres of collaboration with Israel-Premier Tech finally foiled Cavagna’s move with 2km to go, however, and left the lead peloton more or less intact at the foot of the climb, where Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) attempted a long-distance move, only to see Dennis storm past a few seconds later.

The Australian’s push for the line was so successful he was still ahead with 100 metres to go, and it briefly looked as it the time trialling star could claim his first road win since the Tour of the Alps five years ago.

But Teuns, who has taken multiple stage race uphill victories of this kind from the Tour de Pologne in 2017 through to the Tour de France, bridged the gap at the last possible moment. The Belgian then mustered a last few ounces of strength to take his second win in a week.