The 32-year-old experienced Dane sprints for Quick-Step Floors on the 173.9km-long stage 2.
An undulating course, without a meter of flat, it's what the riders had in store on Thursday, when a five-man break – consisting of Nathan Brown (EF Education First), Matteo Fabbro (Katusha-Alpecin), Andriy Grivko (Astana) and Lotto-Soudal duo Victor Campanaerts and Thomas De Gendt – animated the day right from the start, pressing on after they opened a gap and taking their buffer to more than seven minutes.
A lack of cooperation in the peloton meant that the front group, despite being reduced to just three riders inside the last 40 kilometers, still had a comfortable advantage with all the ranked climbs of the stage done and dusted. De Gendt was the one to take advantage of that, attacking from afar and soloing to victory in Yverdon-les-Bains, where the race returned for the first time in nine years.
Grand Tour stage winner Michael Mørkøv sprinted for Quick-Step Floors from the bunch, which arrived some two minutes later, and took his second top-5 of the season, following the one on the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya, where he helped teammate Alvaro Hodeg notch up the victory. In the general classification, Eros Capecchi continues to be the best placed rider of the team with three days to go.
The Tour de Romandie will continue Friday afternoon with a tough uphill stage against the clock, at 9.9 kilometers, the shortest individual time trial in the past two decades. The riders will start from Ollon and climb all the way to Villars, at an altitude of 1256 meters.
Photo credit: ©Michael Steele/ Getty Images
