New Zealander Patrick Bevin won stage 3 ahead of Ethan Hayter(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) recovered quickly from stage 1 crash to win stage 2(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Dylan Teuns (left) of Bahrain Victorious takes stage 1 victory ahead of Rohan Dennis, who moved into GC lead(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) won the prologue to capture the first leader's jersey of 2022 Tour de Romandie(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) won the stage 5 time trial on Sunday and grabbed the overall victory at the Tour de Romandie in a dramatic conclusion to the six-day stage race.
Simon Geschke (Cofidis) would finish 31 seconds back for second place, while Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) was another five seconds slower to earn third. The pair also onto the GC podium, Mäder as runner-up and Geschke in third.
The Bora-Hansgrohe rider not only bumped race leader Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) from the top of the general classification, but Dennis seemed to struggle in the uphill race against the clock and settled for eighth overall in the end.
For Vlasov, the Tour de Romandie became his first-ever WorldTour stage race title, having come close earlier this season with third at Itzulia Basque Country.
Sergio Higuita sprinted to the stage 4 victory of the Tour of Romandie narrowly ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Alexsandr Vlasov. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) finished third on the big 180.1km mountain stage.
Rohan Dennis retained the lead in the general classification after his Jumbo-Visma teammates Sepp Kuss and Steven Kruijswijk managed to deter any dangerous attacks across the five first-category climbs, running from Aigle to a near-summit finish at Zinal. Ayuso climbed to second overall while Vlasov moved into third.
Despite the multiple big climbs on the queen stage, a group of about 15 riders were still together at the finish. Young Colombian Einer Augusto Rubio (Movistar) launched an attack with under 10km to go, but was caught just 300 metres from the finish.
New Zealander Patrick Bevin (Israel-Premier Tech) won stage 3 of the Tour of Romandie as the fastest from a small group sprint after 165 hilly kilometres.
Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) and race leader Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) trailed across the line in Valbroye to round out the podium.
The victory for Bevin, who came into the race with an overall win at Tour of Turkey, was the first WorldTour victory for the Israel-Premier Tech team this season. Bevin jumped away after a late right-hand corner and launched him to the win and into second overall, 14 seconds down on Dennis, now race leader for a third straight day. Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) was in third overall, 18 seconds back.
After the opening prologue and three hilly stages, Romandie now moves into the mountains on Saturday with a stage that features five first-category climbs, running from Aigle to a near-summit finish at Zinal.
Ethan Hayter (Ineos-Grenadiers) won for a second time in three days at the Tour de Romandie in a reduced bunch sprint ahead of Jon Aberasturi (Trek-Segafredo) in second and Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) in third.
Meanwhile, Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) finished in the main group in Échallens and retainted the overall lead, 14 seconds ahead of Felix Grossschartner (ABora-Hansgrohe).
Hayter wore the turquoise leader's jersey on stage 1, but was part a large crash just 15km from the finish. When he crossed the line more than 10 minutes behind the winner, he had to relinquish the GC lead.
While the young Briton scored redemption on the 168-kilometre stage 2, his teammate and defending champion Geraint Thomas was penalised 20 seconds for taking a bottle 200 metres too near to the finish, which moved him from fourth to 24th on GC.
Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious) edged Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) at the line to win stage 1 of the 2022 Tour de Romandie. A late push by Dennis on the steep ascent to the finish in Romont seemed to set him up for a victory salute, but Teuns came around the Australian with 100 metres to go for the win.
Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) completed the second day's podium as he was the best-placed trio of riders trailing two seconds later in the uphill finish, ahead of Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Quinten Hermans (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux).
With just under 15km to go, Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) was among about 15 riders involved in a major late pile-up across the road, which also included Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) and Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost).
Hayter would lose the GC leader's jersey to Dennis, while Felix Grosschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) moved into second overall and Hayter's teammate Geraint Thomas moved to third.
Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) was the first rider to complete the 5.12km prologue course in under six minutes and held the best time to win the opening day for the first leader's jersey at the 2022 Tour de Romandie.
Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) finished second, as the only other rider in the field of 137 to post a sub-six-minute time, four seconds slower than Hayter's time of 5:52. Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) was 10 seconds back on the Lausanne course in third place, while Hayter's teammate Geraint Thomas finished in fourth.
The Tour de Romandie opened with the short prologue which began at Stade de la Tuilière in Lausanne, circled the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise and headed north for the second and final circuit around the La Blécherette airport and back to the finish. Wednesday the climbing begins with 178km from La Grande Béroche to Romont.
Now celebrating its 75th edition, the Tour de Romandie once used to be a regular form guide for the upcoming Giro d’Italia, but now tends to be more favoured by GC Tour de France contenders aiming to get another block of racing in as well as the chance of a prestigious WorldTour win.
Started as a way of celebrating the Swiss Cycling Federation’s 50th anniversary, the race was originally designed as a one-off and had just 40 riders in its first edition. But the boom of the country’s cycling in the late 1940s and early 1950s, thanks to Tour de France winners Ferdie Kubler and Hugo Koblet, helped the race gain a firm foothold in the cycling calendar. Briefly part of international sports, fashion and media rights company IMG in the 1990s, Tour of Romandie is now run by former 1990s pro Richard Chassot.
No matter who the organiser is, since 1947 its list of past champions is indicative of just how highly rated this six-day event has always been. Steven Roche holds the record of victories with three wins, while other Tour de France champions to grace Romandie’s palmares include Kubler (1948, 1951), Gino Bartali (1949), Koblet (1953), Eddy Merckx (1968), Felice Gimondi (1969), Bernard Thevenet (1972), Joop Zoetemelk (1974), Bernard Hinault (1980), Cadel Evans (2006, 2011), Bradley Wiggins (2012), Chris Froome (2013, 2014), and Geraint Thomas (2021).
