Tour de Romandie: new stage victory for Tadej Pogacar, stronger in the sprint than Dorian Godon

1/ Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG)

2/ Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) à 17″

3/ Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) à 26″

4/ Jorgen Nordhagen (Visma Lease a bike) Ã 33″

5/ Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl Trek) Ã 41″

“There was a headwind in the sprint, we shouldn’t be too far ahead. I knew we couldn’t make a gap today. Everything was under control, I was able to do a good sprint.”

1/ Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG)

2/ Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers)

3/ Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe)

4/ Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana)

5/ Valentin Paret-Painter (Soudal-Quick Step)

6/ Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl Trek)

7/ Davide Toneatti (XDS Astana)

8/ Yannis Voisard (Tudor)

9/ Georg Steinhauser (EF Education EasyPost)

10/ Nairo Quintana (Movistar)

The Slovenian controls everyone in the sprint, including the French champion Dorian Godon! The world champion wins his second victory of the week and consolidates his leadership jersey in this Tour de Romandie.

There are around thirty runners in the peloton. Dorian Godon is still there.

Sharp attack from the German climber! But no worries for Pogacar, ultra attentive.

And who comes back immediately? Pogacar, of course.

And it’s Pogacar again who brings everyone back.

The yellow jersey measures everyone. And seems to have some fun leading the pack…

And it is now… Pogacar himself who sets the tempo in the bump.

And Pogacar responds immediately!

It’s Roglic who leads the peloton, and that hurts everyone.

The French champion hangs on in the first positions of the peloton. Tadej Pogacar is also there, obviously.

We see Red Bull and Bahrain coming to support the UAE. Meanwhile, Söderqvist’s lead grew back to 20 seconds.

It gets complicated for Söderqvist. The UAE train is not there to joke behind…

The Dane is engaged in a standoff with the UAE who want the stage victory today. The Lidl-Trek runner is around twenty seconds ahead…

We understood that we had to react in the peloton. And after the Ineos, it is the UAE of Tadej Pogacar who take things in hand.

The young 22-year-old Dane, hopeful world time trial champion, has just taken the lead!

30 seconds ahead now for Jakob Söderqvist, Filippo Conca, Roland Thalmann and Frenchman Henri-François Renard-Haquin! The escape takes time.

The gap has just increased to 28 seconds. The peloton lets Dorian Godon’s Ineos do all the work to get back on the breakaway.

It’s mission impossible for the four leading men, despite the big stints of the Swede Jakob Söderqvist, second in the prologue at the start of the week.

Still 30 seconds ahead for Jakob Söderqvist, Filippo Conca, Roland Thalmann and the Frenchman Henri-François Renard-Haquin.

It was predictable, the gap has just fallen below 30 seconds between the leading quartet and the peloton. The Ineos continue their undermining work. The UAE are also well in place around Tadej Pogacar.

It’s the Ineos who are setting a big pace at the head of the peloton. In order to prepare the ground for Dorian Godon? Winner of the prologue, but also stage winner in Paris-Nice and the Tour of Catalonia, the French champion has been in sparkling form since the start of the season.

The sequence of bumps wreaks havoc on the peloton, which loses several elements and at the same time gets closer to the leading quartet. The Swiss Roland Thalmann took the points and will recover the best climber jersey.

Present in today’s breakaway, Henri-François Renard-Haquin (23 years old) has been playing since this season in the ranks of the Dutch team Picnic PostNL. The Dijonnais, whose profile seems rather cut out for the Flandrian classics, has come a long way since he suffered several fractures in 2021 after being hit by a car during training. He had to recover from a long period of unavailability, before being slowed down again by several falls in 2022.

Plus that 1’35” of advance for the échappée toujours composed of Jakob Söderqvist, Filippo Conca, Roland Thalmann and the Frenchman Henri-François Renard-Haquin.

Trajectory error or lack of attention? Nadav Raisberg, runner from the NSN team, finds himself in the ditch, but without gravity. He leaves immediately.

We remain on a two-minute lead for the leading quartet. None of the four men at the front represent a danger overall. The best ranked is the Italian Filippo Conca, who this morning was … 6 minutes and 4 seconds behind Tadej Pogacar.

1’55 ahead for the head quarter: the Swedish Jakob Soderqvist (Lidl Trek), the Italian Filippo Conca (Jaycol AlUla), the Swiss Roland Thalmann (Tudor) and the French Henri-François Renard-Haquin Post (TeNL).

Winner on Wednesday, the Slovenian is still favorite of the day, on this puncher profile. Especially given the few high caliber sprinters present in the peloton.

Around 2’30 ahead for the group of four at the front, the gap no longer increases. Tadej Pogacar’s teammates took control of the peloton to impose their pace.

The Swede Jakob Soderqvist (Lidl Trek), the Italian Filippo Conca (Jaycol AlUla), the Swiss Roland Thalmann (Tudor) and the French Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Team Picnic PostNL) form the breakaway with more than 2’30 ahead of the peloton.

Two minutes ahead for the 4 leading men.

Henri-François Haquin (Picnic PostNL) and the Italian Filippo Conca (Jayco AlUla) joined the Swiss Roland Thalmann (Tudor) and the Swede Jakob Sôderqvist (Lidl-Trek).

The peloton seems to validate this breakaway.

The peloton is 25 seconds behind the leader.

Henri-François Haquin (Picnic PostNL) is on the counter with the Italian Filippo Conca (Jayco AlUla).

The Swiss Roland Thalmann (Tudor) and the Swede Jakob Sôderqvist (Lidl-Trek) are 10″ ahead.

The attacks multiply but the peloton is regrouped again.

A small group manages to gain a few meters on the peloton.

The peloton remains grouped at the start of the stage.

On paper, the adventurers could have a great opportunity this Thursday. The French champion Dorian Godon also seems able to play for victory if it happens together.

The real start has been given. American Sean Quinn (EF Education-Easy Post) is a non-starter due to knee pain.

The runners have several kilometers to complete in the fictitious before the real start.

The Slovenian won the stage on Wednesday by finishing the sprint to take the lead in the general classification.

Continuation of the Tour de Romandie this Thursday with the second stage (third day) between Rue and Vucherens. 173.1 km on the program. Start of the race scheduled for 1 p.m., to be followed in our live commentary on RMC Sport.