Tour de Romandie: Rohan Dennis wins prologue

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Ineos Grenadiers swept the podium in the opening prologue at the Tour de Romandie, with Rohan Dennis winning the stage while Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte stole a march on their rivals for the overall title.

The course was just four kilometres in length but Dennis clocked 5:26 to put daylight between himself and the rest of the field, with his two teammates both finishing nine seconds in arrears.

World Champion Filippo Ganna was below his best and perhaps suffered on the late climb, but nevertheless made it four riders in the top nine for the British team.

Dennis now takes the first leader’s yellow jersey, as Porte and Thomas take an advantage of at least seven seconds over all the other GC contenders.

Winless in his year in the rainbow skinsuit in 2020, Dennis confirmed his return to time trialling form after winning at last month’s Volta a Catalunya. It was an all-round display from the Australian, who was almost nine seconds faster than his teammates on the flat opening section, but matched their speed on the final 880-metre ascent of the Route de Bulle, which had an average gradient of 7.6 per cent.

“It was full gas, then full gas even more,” Dennis said at the finish. “It was tricky to pace because it’s still a minute and a half uphill and there’s no way to get extra speed unless you’ve got the power. The last 800 metres really hurt.”

Dennis wasn’t the fastest rider through the intermediate checkpoint, as Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) flew through three seconds quicker to pose a late threat to the hotseat. The French champion, however, faded on the climb and had to settle for fourth place, with early starter Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) rounding out the top five.

Just behind Cavagna, Thomas, the last rider off, was making his way up the climb, stopping the clock a fraction of a second up on Porte, having matched him for most of the course.

Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) were the next best of the potential GC contenders, finishing just outside the top 10 at 16 seconds from Dennis, and seven seconds from Thomas and Porte.

Miguel Angel Lopez made a strong debut for Movistar, finishing a further three seconds back alongside Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious). Ion Izaguirre (Astana-Premier Tech) and Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep) produced solid rides, finishing ahead of Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) and Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), who both lost 15 seconds to Thomas and Porte.

Woods’ teammate Chris Froome did not appear to be any closer to top form as he finished in 130th place, 52 seconds down on Dennis’ winning time.

How it unfolded

The short course in Oron took the riders on a flat and straight opening two kilometres before they had to scrub off their speed for a 180-degree turn back on themselves. After another kilometre, there was another tricky bend, this time 90 degrees, to turn onto the climb, which spanned 880 metres on a steady winding road.

Joel Suter (Swiss Cycling) was the first rider the starting ramp at 3 p.m. local time, but his time of 6:10 didn’t last long. The early benchmark was set by Bissegger, with 5:37 winner of the time trial at Paris-Nice last month. European Champion Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) set off soon after and his time of 5:43 made it clear the heavier, pure specialists would struggle with the climb.

Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious), winner of the prologue a couple of years ago, produced another strong rider to take what would become a place in the top six, while Kelderman, Lopez, Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), and Ilan Van Wilder (Team DSM) were among the strong early times.

Just past the halfway mark. Dennis set off, putting down the power on the flat part before flying up the climb, leaving his TT position to spring violently from the saddle on the upper section. He crossed the line 11 seconds up on Bissegger and from there his time looked untouchable, although his three teammates were likely to be in the mix.

Ganna was perhaps the most fancied, given his performances since taking the world title last year and his world record in the pursuit over this exact distance. However, the Italian, who remained seated for most of the climb, could only manage a spot in the top 10. Four-time World Champion Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) almost slipped out on the entry to the climb and finished 26 seconds down on Dennis.

Porte was the next Ineos rider to hit the course and was outside the top 50 on the flat section, losing almost nine seconds to Dennis. He didn’t lose any more time on the climb, but neither did he gain any, and he moved into second place at the expense of Bissegger.

Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) was among some strong late rides, with the home star clocking 5:41 to take a place in the top 10, before the lightweight climber Kuss impressed with a time just a second slower.

Cavagna, dubbed the TGV of Clermont Ferrand, flew out of the station and it looked like he could be about to topple Dennis. However, he lost seven seconds to Dennis on the climb and had to settle for another near miss after podiums at Paris-Nice and Catalunya this year.

Thomas was the last rider off, matching Porte’s time on the flat and on the climb itself. It wasn’t enough for victory, but with the winner in-house, and another teammate just below him on the podium, that won’t matter one bit. Ineos put four riders in the top 10 at Catalunya and went on to sweep the podium – with Thomas and Porte joining the winner Adam Yates. Are they about to doing something similar this week?