The Tour de Romandie starts today with a prologue, the only World Tour race that still has one. It’s different from an opening time trial as it’s defined as no more than 8km, also the rules say if a rider crashes and doesn’t finish they can start tomorrow’s stage with time of the slowest rider.
It’s not just the prologue, Romandie’s course is often traditional, even retro: no wall-climbs, no cobbles, no gravel. But this is part of the attraction for participants where Giro contenders get as risk-free racing as they can hope for, all on opulent Swiss tarmac. Also teams can test out younger riders in a World Tour stage race that’s less hectic. For a change the weather forecast looks good too.
