Jon Izagirre takes Tour de Romandie prologue, lead

Rob Sturney April 26, 2016

Jon Izagirre (Spain/Movistar) grabbed the first lead of the WorldTour 2016 Tour de Romandie on Tuesday with a victory in the opening prologue. Izagirre continues a fine season that has seen him win the Gran Premio Miguel Indurain, place runner-up in the Volta ao Algarve, and come fifth in Paris-Nice.

The conditions in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland before the prologue were in accordance with the forecast: cold and snowy. Several teams tweeted recon footage of the weather.

#TeamIAM #TDR2016
Prologue – more flakes?
there you go – Part 2
???????? pic.twitter.com/IOtG5cyEwM

— ✚ Team IAM Cycling (@IAM_Cycling) April 26, 2016

Chris Froome claimed that there was conflict of interest in the go-ahead to roll the prologue in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

The course took in several corners and a wee hill over its 3.95-km, but large gaps between the favourites weren’t expected. Most riders opted for a regular road bike, with aero helmets. The weather improved as the afternoon reeled itself out.

Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) held an early lead of 5:51.030, but South African Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) climbed into the hot seat with 5:46. After a half an hour Cannondale’s Italian Moreno Moser put in a powerful effort to stop the clock at 5:42. After 80-riders finished, Impey’s Canadian teammate Christian Meier was 7th, 10-seconds back of Moreno.

Gorka Izagirre (Spain/Movistar) eclipsed Moser by two-seconds, but in turn found 2014 world road champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland/Sky) clipping him by a second. Gorka’s brother Jon took family revenge with a seven-second beating of Kwiatkowski at 5:33.

#TDR2016: ‘Hot seat’ (?!) #EgurreIon ? @TourdeRomandie pic.twitter.com/PJbKetNMnJ

— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) April 26, 2016

Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) hammered the course as conditions once again deteriorated, but came up six-seconds short. Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) had a good first half but cooled down in the second, crossing the line 16-seconds back. Froome tiptoed around a couple of wet corners and stopped the clock +0:26.

Although Ryder Hesjedal (Trek-Segafredo) had a faster intermediate time than Meier, the Orica-GreenEdge man was top Canadian at 29th.

2016 Tour de Romandie prologue
1) Jon Izagirre (Spain/Movistar) 5:33
2) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) +0:06
3) Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland/Sky) +0:07
29) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +0:19
65) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Trek-Segafredo) +0:27