Tour de Romandie

Châtel-Saint-Denis, a small but picturesque town lying in the canton of Fribourg, welcomed the race for an 18.7km individual time trial. The course was quite a testing one, the presence of the Route du Moleson climb (5km, 4.9%) complicating things for many of the pre-stage favourites, due to the presence of some steep double-digit ramps in the first part. The subsequent descent was fast and technical in places, only adding to the complexity of the ITT.

Prologue winner Josef Cerny once again finished the day as the best-placed Soudal Quick-Step rider, clocking up a time of 25:56 after averaging a solid 43.38km/h on the stage won by Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates). He was followed by teammate Rémi Cavagna, who remains our squad’s highest-ranked rider on the general classification, only three seconds from the top ten.

The race continues with what will be the decisive stage of the week. Saturday takes the peloton atop Thyon 2000, a long and gruelling Hors catégorie ascent that will be tackled only for the second time this century.

Photo credit: ©Wout Beel