- Ethan Vernon won the first stage of the Tour de Romandie from Cresier near Lausanne in Vaud Jura in a mass sprint.
- Britain’s Joseph Cerny replaces his Sodal Quick-Step teammate as captain.
- The 171km stage was overshadowed by Misinformation by the chasing group.
After 171km in Le Sentier in the Vallée de Joux, Vernon overtook Belgians Thibaut Nice (Trec-Segafredo) and Milan Menten (Lotto Destiny).
Thanks to an extra 10 seconds, the 22-year-old beat teammate and prologue winner Cerny by a few hundredths and tackles Thursday’s second stage in the leader’s yellow jersey. Joel Sutter (Tudor) as the best Swiss is sixth overall.
With Michael Scheer (AG2R Citroën), Dario Lello and Jan Stöckli (both Swiss cycling), the 3 home-grown drivers took a break on Wednesday. However, the breakaway group, consisting of 5 riders at the start, was caught 74 km from the finish.
Runner’s group incident
An embarrassing incident occurred about 16 kilometers from the finish: a chasing group, which included several sprinters who were far behind on the climb in the Jura, was misled.
This leg appeared to be shorter than the usual peloton course, so the group was stopped, apparently to regain a previously measured gap. The group finally crossed the finish line about 11 minutes late.
Multiple tasks
With Britain’s Simon Yates (Jaiko Alola) and Mark Cavendish (Astana), Kazakhstan’s Alexei Lutsenko (Astana) and Portugal’s Rui Costa (Intermarche), many of the leading drivers abandoned the race.
This is how it goes
On Thursday, the sprinters should get another chance on the 162.7-kilometre section from Morteau to La Chaux-de-Fonds, before the time trial in Châtel-Saint-Denis the next day and the king stage with a mountain finish at Valais ski station that follows. On Saturday Theon 2000.
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