Nairo Quintana (Movistar) moved into the lead at the Tour de Romandie after winning stage 2 in Morgins. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) initially crossed the line first but was demoted for changing his line in the two-man sprint to the finish against Quintana.
Quintana was also given the first-place bonus seconds that put him into the leader’s jersey by 18 seconds ahead of Zakarin in the overall standings.
The animated race started with a six-man break that included Igor Sillin (Katusha), Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge), Danilo Wyss (BMC), Fumiyuki Beppu (Tre-Segafredo), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), and Jaco Venter (Dimension Data). Team Sky nearly reeled in the breakaway but Chris Froome suffered a puncture just before the foot of the Les Champs climb.
There was a lot of action over the final two climbs, with Cannondale teammates Joe Dombrowski and Pierre Rolland making it across to the breakaway. But it was all back together for the final 10km climb, where Quintana made a significant attack that only Zakarin could follow.
The pair sprinted to the finish line together, but Zakarin drifted to the right side of the road as they made the last bend and forced Quintana to sit up. He was demoted to second, giving Quintana the victory.
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