Tour de Romandie: Maikel Zijlaard wins prologue from early start on dry course

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Tudor Pro Cycling's Maikel Zijlaard put in the best performance of his career, powering to his first WorldTour victory in the 2.3km prologue of the Tour de Romandie.

Zijlaard started early in the day before intermittent drizzle made the city circuit in Payern treacherous. 

Australian Cameron Scott (Bahrain Victorious), one of the last riders to start, managed to keep the bike upright and come within a second of the Dutchman but was unable to kick him out of the hot seat.

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep) finished third just over two seconds behind Zijlaard.

Zijlaard's previous best result this year was seventh place at Nokere Koerse and he surpassed his expectations with the victory.

"It's crazy - I can't believe it," he said. "I started quite early, and the last two hours have been the worst two hours of my life because of the stress. I wanted this so much for myself for the team. It's super nice to show that we are capable of doing stuff like this and it's a super team.

"I know I'm quite good at this stuff, so I was going in here with a goal which was the prologue. It's quite hard to believe but it's reality and I'm really happy.

"I don't really have the words. To win here in my first road to victory for a Swiss team in Switzerland - it's a bit of a dream."

How it unfolded

Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling), nephew to ex-pros Michael and Leontin Zijlaard Van Moorsel, set the fastest early time, eclipsing the likes of Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) in the violent 2.3 kilometre prologue.

Zijlaard went three seconds quicker than early starter Dorion Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and withstood a huge effort from Julian Alaphillippe (Soudal-Quickstep), who went 2.3 seconds slower.

Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) was keen to try to win the prologue but almost crashed twice and lost all chances before the line, coming just 15 seconds shy after coming to a near stop.

A bit of drizzle fell on the later starters, making the twisting, turning course in Payern slippery and forcing riders to take caution, but Cameron Scott (Bahrain-Victorious) managed to come within one second of Zijlaard's time, pushing Alaphilippe into third.

Of the overall contenders, Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ayuso finished six to seven seconds down, defending Tour de Romandie champion Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) was eight seconds down, Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) at nine seconds, with the rest over 10 seconds behind.

Results

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