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Fabio Felline fabulous in Tour de Romandie prologue

Houle 29th in the short time trial

April 25, 2017
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Italian Fabio Felline of Trek-Segafredo nabbed his second victory of the year by proving fastest in the Tour de Romandie’s opening prologue time trial of 4.8-km in Aigle, Switzerland. He pulls on the first leader’s jersey as well.

Although the course was short, there were several tricky corners, favouring a rider with good bike handling skills and the ability to accelerate back to speed. Jon Izagirre (Spain/Bahrain-Merida) won the 3.95-km prologue last year in La Chaux-de-Fonds.


It was raining heavily at the start, and Fabien Doubey (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) was the first to test the waters.

At 6:26, Chris Froome didn’t exactly kill the course, but he fared better than in the 2010 prologue.


Not surprisingly, Slovenian chrono ace Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo) took the early lead with 6:06, but, quite surprisingly, found relatively unknown Australian Alexander Edmondson (Orica-GreenEdge) eclipsing him by two-seconds.

Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) was the day’s notable crasher, but only finished a second slower than teammate Richie Porte. Italian Fabio Felline of Trek-Segafredo then became the first rider to crack the six-minute mark with 5:57.


Felline withstood the threat of Alex Dowsett (Great Britain/Movistar), who overcooked a corner and finished two-seconds in arrears.

Of the GC contenders, Izagirre and Bob Jungels (Luxembourg/Quick Step) fared the best, 12-seconds back.

Sole Canadian entrant Hugo Houle was 29th, 20-seconds slower.

Wednesday’s stage ends with a Cat. 1 climb.

Tour de Romandie Prologue
1) Fabio Felline (Italy/Trek-Segafredo) 5:57
2) Alex Dowsett (Great Britain/Movistar) +0:02
3) Alexander Edmondson (Orica-GreenEdge) +0:07
29) Hugo Houle (Canada/AG2R) +0:20