Briton tops Ivo Oliveira and Ivan Romeo for first WorldTour victory
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) powered to the first WorldTour victory of his career in the 3.4km opening prologue at the Tour de Romandie, narrowly pipping Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to the win by less than a second with a time of 4:33 in Saint-Imier.
The near-four-minute effort fit perfectly into Oliveira's wheelhouse, as one of the top individual pursuit riders in track cycling. He had survived challenges from Olympic and world time trial champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), and looked set for victory, until he was left with his head in his hands on the hot seat after Watson bettered his time.
Iván Romeo (Movistar) finished third, after leading much of the early phases until Oliveira knocked him off of top spot with a time three seconds faster.
Watson was announced as a late addition to Ineos' starting roster, only told he would be racing in Romandie yesterday, having not raced since the cobbled Classics, but he's now managed to claim the biggest win of his career so far.
With such a short distance in the prologue, the GC favourites weren't separated by much at the finish, Evenepoel at five seconds down in eighth, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) one second further, and Watson's teammate Carlos Rodríguez on a fifteen-second deficit.
"Yesterday I was out training in Andorra one and a half hours from home and I get a call from the team saying, 'Get to the airport as soon as you can, because you're racing Romandie', and then here I am with a victory, so it's pretty special," said a delighted Watson at the finish.
"All I felt was paint, to be honest, and I crossed the line, and I didn't know I was leading until the first interview. It was quite a nice surprise. I don't think it's really set in yet but yeah, fuck, to say I've won my first WorldTour race with Ineos as well, my first win with them, is a bit of a dream.
"For sure, it definitely gives me some confidence, you know, and we can really get into the next days, on paper, that suit me."
Sam Watson on the podium (Image credit: Getty Images)
How It Unfolded
Action at the 78th Tour de Romandie kicked off with its typical prologue opener in Saint-Imier in the northwest corner of Switzerland, with Lennart Van Eetvelt (Lotto) the first rider to roll off the start ramp for the 3.44km race against the clock.
Van Eetvelt held an early lead with a time of 4:45 at the finish, until Alex Baudin knocked him off the top spot by a couple of tenths. That too was very short-lived, though, as reigning under-23 time trial world champion Iván Romeo came through the line nine seconds quicker.
Several riders filled that nine-second gap, with the short distance allowing sprinters, GC riders and TT specialists all to contest the victory. Last year's Tour de Romandie prologue winner, Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor), came very close to repeating his feat, only two-tenths of a second slower than Romeo at the finish.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG had several riders finish close to the lead with their potential GC hopes, João Almeida and Jay Vine, both finishing two seconds down on the Spaniard. However, it was instead their in-form teammate Ivo Oliveira who bettered Romeo's time with a 4:33.
One of the big questions for the day was whether riders opted to use their road bike, and utilise the better handling on a short, somewhat technical course, or to maximise their aerodynamic gain with the time trial machine. Oliveira did the latter to overtake Romeo's time, who'd gone with the former.
World and Olympic time trial champion Evenepoel exploded off the start ramp, showing his intentions of chasing the victory, however, he clearly took fewer risks in the corners and finished marginally 4 seconds down on Olivera's time in fifth.
Remco Evenepoel took no risks in the prologue (Image credit: Getty Images)
Stefan Küng (Soudal-QuickStep) was similarly unable to better the Portuguese rider's time, with the short distance not exactly playing into his strengths. He finished three seconds slower.
Oliveira looked set for victory, having survived several of the pre-stage favourites, until he was left devastated by a stunning ride from Ineos Grenadiers' Watson, who went less than three-tenths of a second quicker.
Only 19 riders were left to come after Watson, with former Romandie prologue winner from 2023, Josef Černý (Soudal-QuickStep), and 20-year-old star Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) looking the most likely contenders.
However, even they couldn't match the 45.6kph average speed that Watson had managed on the technical course, with Christen down in tenth and the victory being confirmed for the young Brit.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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