Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) claimed victory on stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie, outfoxing his four breakaway companions with a late attack just before the final kilometre into La Grande Béroche.
It had looked like a five-man sprint was set to decide the day, but, knowing he had little chance in the sprint, Fortunato made the move when his fellow escapees began to look at each other, with Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) in second and Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep) unable to catch him before the line.
The quintet that fought out the stage win was formed in the final flat 30 kilometres of racing beside Lake Neuchâtel, after an attack from Baudin was joined by two counter moves from Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) and Lecerf, then Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) and the Italian.
After building more than a minute lead over the chasing group of remaining GC favourites, which contained Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the five men held on to finish with an advantage of more than 50 seconds.
Baudin moved into the lead of the race ahead of Lecerf, thanks to bonus seconds, with Fortunato's prologue meaning he only moved up to fourth overall, 17 seconds behind the Frenchman overall.
"I'm feeling good. Today was a hard race because Soudal-QuickStep started to pull from the start, and the peloton waited for Remco to attack on the last climb, then we remained as 20 riders," said Fortunato post-race, before explaining his all-or-nothing approach in the final.
"I wanted to take seconds or a minute for the GC [on the Evenepoel group]. In the last kilometre and I thought 'OK, I'll win or be the last in the group', but in the final, I won the stage – I'm very happy.
"This season for XDS Astana is crucial, so we have to win points in all the races, but now I want to finish this Romandie and go to the Giro to win a stage."
Alex Baudin takes the overall leader's jersey on stage 2 (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
After a prologue and reduced sprint on stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie, the second road stage brought with it the hardest say or racing so far in Western Switzerland, with four categorised climbs and just under 3,000m of elevation in store.
Racing started and finished in La Grande Béroche, beside Lake Neuchâtel, and the climbing was on right from the flag drop. The peloton immediately hit the foot of the 7km Col de la Tourne, with the Mauborget climb not long after.
Several riders launched attacks to try and get ahead, notably Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost); however, they were brought back and countered by the likes of Ryan's teammate, Hugh Carthy and current King of the Mountains, Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
The latter pair were joined by Welay Hagos Berhe (Jayco AlUla), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) and Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) to form a five-man breakaway for the day. Their gap was built to just more than two minutes, but they were kept closely controlled by Soudal-QuickStep.
With 73km to go, the break's lead dipped below a minute and provoked Carthy into another attack up Les Grattes (5.8km at 5.9%), with only Bernard able to follow.
A general view of the peloton on stage 2 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Evenepoel's team continued to work on the front of the peloton, suggesting that the Belgian was gearing up for an attack at some point. Their strong tempo caused both pre-stage leader Brennan and second-placed Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) to drop midway through the day.
Having re-established a 2:00 lead on the peloton at the bottom of the climb, only Carthy and Bernard were left out in front, as Zwiehoff, Berhe and García Pierna were swept up.
With 50km to go, racing hit the final categorised climb of the day to Chaumont, with Carthy leaving Bernard behind on the stinging 3.2km ascent that averaged an 11.4% gradient. The Brit had only 50 seconds of an advantage at the foot.
As Evenepoel's teammates finished their work, UAE Team Emirates-XRG took over on the front through Jay Vine, with João Almeida close behind him.
Carthy crested the final climb alone, but with Evenepoel increasing the pace over the top and bringing many of the favourites with him. This ended Carthy's day in front, with almost 20 of the main climbers catching him.
On the descent, Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) and Vine found separation from the uncooperative bunch and kicked on to gain a lead of 20 seconds. They were pulled back as the stage entered its mainly flat final 30km.
With the group not working, Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) launched the first move to try and anticipate in the final, with López and Evenepoel's teammate Junior Lecerf joining him. A second attempt to bridge was completed by Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) and Lennert Van Eetvelt, who quickly made it a group of five in the lead.
Juan Pedro Lopez leads the breakaway on stage 2 (Image credit: Getty Images)
As the group of favourites behind still couldn't get a chase going, they fell over a minute behind the quintet in the lead with 5km still to go, meaning it was definitely going to come down to the leading five.
Approaching the final kilometre, Lecerf, Van Eetvelt, Baudin and López all started pulling off and slowing the pace down, not wanting to drag the other four into the finishing sprint. However, Fortunato wasted no time hesitating, and after almost by accident finding himself off the front, he decided to go all in.
Van Eetvelt initially chased for a moment but then stopped, allowing the Italian to gain all the gap for the final 800 metres. When the sprint was eventually launched behind, Baudin was the quickest, but Fortunato was already celebrating in front of him.
Evenepoel led the group of main favourites home in the sprint, meaning he'll start stage 3 in sixth, 52 seconds behind Baudin's lead. Tomorrow's stage is a similarly undulating test, before the Queen stage to Thyon 2000 on Saturday.
Lorenzo Fortunato on the podium as the stage 2 winner (Image credit: Getty Images)
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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