Aleksandr Vlasov wins Tour de Romandie

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Aleksandr Vlasov claimed overall victory at the Tour de Romandie after winning the climactic uphill time trial.

The Bora-Hansgrohe rider deposed Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) at the top of the general classification, who dropped off the podium altogether after struggling on the uphill slopes.

In a stage that featured big time gaps, it was all change at the top of the general classification, with Gino Mader (Bahrain-Victorious) and Simon Geschke (Cofidis) both leapfrogging Dennis to take second and third respectively.

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) also lost his place on the podium, finishing eighth on the stage and conceding almost a minute to Mader and Geschke, but holds on as the best young rider. 

For Vlasov, the Tour de Romandie becomes his first-ever WorldTour stage race title, having come close earlier this season with third at Itzulia Basque Country, and last year when he was second at Paris-Nice.

“I gave it my all today. Of course my main goal was to win the GC. I did my best today, I pushed full gas, and I’m super-happy with this result," he said.

“I said yesterday before the stage that maybe we’d arrive in a big group together at the finish, and that the day after [i.e. today’s time trial] would probably be a more important day for the general classification. Yesterday was just a warm-up! Yesterday I was in good shape, and today I was concentrated on going full gas.”

Vlasov had looked very strong throughout the week, showing great climbing legs as well as an unexpectedly quick sprinting kick to register to fourth-place finishes and second-place behind teammate Sergio Higuita yesterday. 

“I’m in good shape, I felt that I could win the race. I rode to avoid the crashes and injuries, and to have the best legs for today’s stage. It’s my first WorldTour win, and also my first general classification in a World Tour stage race. It’s amazing, I’m super-happy.” 

In doing so, he denied Dennis what would have been his second WorldTour following the 2015 Tour Down Under, and his first on European roads. 

There’s a certain irony that double world time trial champion Dennis emerged out of the mountainous queen stage in the overall lead, only to lose it in his favoured discipline of the time trial, but the uphill nature of the course played into the favour of climbers like Vlasov. 

He had already lost his virtual GC lead at the intermediate sprint, where, despite setting the third fastest time, he had already conceded a huge 28 seconds to a flying Vlasov.    

From that point on he laboured even more on the uphill slopes, rocking back and forth on the bike, and ultimately plummeted to eighth on GC.

“I’m absolutely spent,” said a resigned Dennis after finishing his ride. “I had absolutely nothing left in the final half of the climb. I think the week has taken its toll, fighting each day. It was a great week with the team, I want to thank them for the hard work.” 

His loss was Geschke and Mader’s gain, who both pulled off significant surprises to finish on the podium. 

How it unfolded

It was a sunny albeit cold final day at the Tour de Romandie, but each rider was sure to warm up on the intense uphill effort that awaited them. 

Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal) set the quickest time early on, but with the riders setting off in a GC order that has by now been firmly established, the leader in the clubhouse changed frequently throughout the day. 

Marco Brenner (DSM) and then Remi Cavagna (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) narrowly bested his time, before Antonio Tiberi (Trek-Segafredo) became the new leader by a whopping margin of almost a minute.

Despite setting a new standard with his time, it wasn’t long until Tiberi’s time was beaten by Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), resplendent in the colours of the Spanish flag as national time trial champion, and who himself was imminently deposed by Estonian national time trial champion Rein Taaramae (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux). 

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was the next rider to post a new fastest time, but hot on his wheels was Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma), who had bettered Pinot’s time at the intermediate sprint by 20 seconds, and just about held on by two seconds by the finish. 

Kruijswijk’s time as lead was even more brief, however, as Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) flew up the climb to beat the Dutchman’s time by a fraction of a second, despite having been almost 20 seconds slower at the intermediate sprint. 

Caruso and Kruijswijk’s times were enough to see them catapult up to sixth and seventh respectively on GC, but only when Geschke arrived did the real podium threats materialise. 

The German smashed Caruso’s time by over half a minute, and, after holding off Mader’s time by five seconds, would have taken the stage victory were it not for Vlasov’s superb ride.