Ineos Grenadiers rule Tour de Romandie prologue
Michael Woods limits losses
Photo by:
Sirotti
Ineos Grenadiers swept the podium on Tuesday’s opening prologue of the Tour de Romandie, with Rohan Dennis taking the win and Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte second and third. Michael Woods will be pleased to only concede 25 seconds to Dennis.
The Course
The route was pretty simple: pan flat for 3 km and then a challenging rise over the last kilometer.
Today, we start Tour de Romandie with a short but challenging prologue. The last 800 meters kick up with around 8 %
?♂️ISN starting times?♂️
– Boivin: 15:07
– Bevin: 15:27
– Woods: 15:47
– Hollenstein: 16:07
– Froome: 16:27
– Würtz: 16:47
– Dowsett: 17:07
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??#TDR2021 pic.twitter.com/UQyt1WpKA4— Israel Start-Up Nation / Israel Cycling Academy (@TeamIsraelSUN) April 27, 2021
The first rider to face the course, Joel Suter (Switzerland/Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB), completed the 4 km in 6:11, but his time didn’t stand for long. Canada’s Guillaume Boivin posted 6:04.
EF-Nippo’s Swiss Stefan Bissegger stopped the clock at 5:38 and held off compatriot Stefan Küng, the European chrono champion, and Slovenian Jan Tratnik.
Steven Kruijswijk was one of the early GC men–his time was 5:50. Wilco Kelderman, who came as close to winning a Grand Tour as he probably every will in last season’s Giro d’Italia, clocked 5:42. Angel “Superman” Lopez finally made his debut for new squad Movistar, and he had a time of 5:45. Marc Hirschi was 5:41.
Michael Woods wouldn’t threaten the top of the leader board with 5:52, but he would be satisfied with limiting his losses.
Dennis smashed Bissegger’s time by 11 seconds. Dennis’ Ineos teammate Filippo Ganna came in at 5:41 and another, Porte, bumped Bissegger out of second spot with a good time.
Frenchman Remi Cavagna looked like he was going to usurp Porte’s time, but came up a little short. Thomas wasn’t impressing at the intermediate time check, but climbed into the second spot.
Wednesday brings a big opportunity to King of the Mountains aspirants. Nine Cat. 3 climbs are on offer.
2021 Tour de Romandie Prologue
1) Rohan Dennis (Australia/Ineos) 5:27
2) Geraint Thomas (Great Britain/Ineos) +0:08
3) Richie Porte (Australia/Ineos) +0:09
37) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +0:25
102) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +0:37
