Ilnur Zakarin won the Tour de Romandie, climbing faster than Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana on the mountain stage and were it not for a mechanical mishap he’d have out-ridden Tony Martin in a technical time trial too. The Russian was the surprise package of the race while the pre-Tour clash of Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali never came alive.
With the spring classics done it’s time for the stage races. There’s no immediate switch from embrocation to sun screen as this year’s Tour de Romandie offers familiar conditions with rain and cold forecast.
There’s a rare pre-Tour clash between Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali but with wider interest as it’s a Giro tune up for some and a test for others.
For years cycling was the whipping boy of sports administration. Turf wars, doping problems and other concerns beset the sport and the UCI’s HQ in Switzerland had a siege mentality. Now it’s the turn of FIFA, soccer’s governing body. There are allegations of cronyism, whistleblowers being blasted, talk of breakaways and a bizarre President who seems impossible to eject. Cycling fans might feel like The Simpson’s Nelson Muntz as they point and laugh at FIFA’s self-inflicted woes. But any amusement is surely born from experience and a sense of nervous relief that another sport is humiliating itself?
The UCI and FIFA are both based in Switzerland, in fact well over half of the governing bodies for Olympic sports are based in Switzerland, a small country of just eight million people. Why? More importantly will they stay as Switzerland looks to place them under greater scrutiny and impose greater transparency?
The Dauphiné brought great racing with the top contenders for the Tour de France in Alpine action. The Tour de Suisse promises more of the same but also racing of a different kind with riders struggling to be themselves, competing for the eye of their managers and with whole teams in racing against time to save their future.
Simon Špilak outsprints Chris Froome to win the Queen Stage of the Tour de Romandie last Friday. The exact same thing happened this time last year in Les Diablerets, just 20km away. With this Froome distanced his rivals and used the final time trial to seal the race overall.
But not everything is the same. Froome’s had different challenges. Here’s a look back at the race with a look ahead to the Giro and beyond.
With the spring classics done it’s time for the stage races. But there’s no immediate switch from embrocation to Ambre Solaire as this year’s Tour de Romandie offers similar conditions to last year with snow and rain forecast
With Cadel Evans in 2011, Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Chris Froome in 2013 the race winner has gone on to win the Tour de France. This year’s edition is probably important to Team Sky in terms of recovering from a disastrous April rather than staking claims to the future. It’s also a race that serves a final tune-up for those riding the Giro.
Convention says Switzerland is a boring place but convention doesn’t ride a bicycle. The Tour of Switzerland waited until the last day to pick the winner and even on the duller stages during the race the scenery made you want to dash to the Alps for a ride with a cowbell soundtrack.
Rui Costa wins the the mountain time trial up the ski resort of Flumserberg, putting enough time into race leader Mathias Frank to take the overall lead at the last minute. This was the moment the race was won.
After eight tough stages, it’s now time to settle the overall classification. Tour de Suisse often ends with a time trial but never one like this.
Despite the distance of just 26.8 km, the riders are in for a day full of pain. The profile is extremely brutal with a final section of 10.3 km uphill with an average gradient of 9 %. The first 16.5 km are flat so we can expect the riders to start out on a time trial bike and then change to a road bike before the climb starts.
This 8th stage of Tour de Suisse seems like a good one for a breakaway to make it. The GC favorites will be happy to get a quiet day before the final time trial and for many teams this is the last chance to get a stage win in the race.
The GC contenders had an easy day on Stage 6 when the peloton decided to let Kolobnev, Grabsch, Hayman and Rast stay away. What could have been a hectic final turned out to be quiet day at the office but now it’s time to fight for the overall classification.