Tour de Romandie: Michael Woods returns to WorldTour stage race he led in 2021

Michael Woods’ road to the Tour de France goes through the Tour de Romandie for the second year running as the Israel-Premier Tech rider returns to the French-speaking part of Switzerland for the last UCI WorldTour stage race before the first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d’Italia.

Last year Woods led the Tour de Romandie for a day after winning the Sion to Thyon 2000 mountain stage, but he sifted down to fifth after the concluding time trial.

On the road to the Tour de France, Woods has twice raced the Tour de Romandie before one of the two traditional La Grande Boucle warm-up stage races: last year he took on the Tour de Suisse after Romandie, again placing fifth. In 2019 he was 10th in the Tour of Romandie and then went on to the Critérium du Dauphiné, but he didn’t finish. Right now it’s not known if Rusty will take the Tour de Suisse route or the Critérium du Dauphiné route in June.

The 75th Tour de Romandie kicked off on Tuesday with a prologue time trial, a flattish 5.12 km.

Today's @TourDeRomandie is now underway with a short and sharp 5km prologue around the football stadium and runway of Lausanne.#TDR2022 pic.twitter.com/lBrtwQI00b

— VeloViewer (@VeloViewer) April 26, 2022

Woods placed 117th, while compatriot and teammate Alex Cataford came 102nd.

Wednesday’s first stage is a hilly 178 km from La Grande Beroche to Romont.

2022 Tour de Romandie Prologue
1) Ethan Hayter (Great Britain/Ineos Grenadiers) 5:52
2) Rohan Dennis (Australia/Jumbo-Visma) +0:04
3) Felix Grossschartner (Austria/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:10
102) Alex Cataford (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:37
117) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:42