Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge. - Khalil Gibran
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2019: A Year of New Faces is available in both Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- April 27 - May 4: Tour of Turkey
- April 29 - May 4: Tour de Romandie
Upcoming racing:
- May 1: Rund um den Finanzplaz Eschborn-Frankfurt
- May 9 - June 1: Giro d'Italia
- May 11: Tro-Bro Léon
Latest completed racing:
- April 27: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 24 - 27: Vuelta Asturias
- April 21 - 25: Tour of the Alps
- April 23: La Flèche Wallonne
- April 20: Amstel Gold Race
- April 20: Tour du Doubs
- April 15 - 18: Giro d'Abruzzo
- April 18: De Brabantse Pijl
- April 12-13: Paris-Roubaix
- April 7 - 12: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
- April 8 - 11: Region Pays de la Loire Tour
We posted the report from winner Sam Watson's Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.
Here's the report from second-place Ivo Oliveira's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:
On the opening day of the Tour de Romandie, Ivo Oliveira came within a whisker of his first WorldTour victory, as the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man placed second in the prologue. The Portuguese track specialist used all of his nous and experience to produce a breathtaking performance on the 3.5km route, but was ultimaly pipped to the stage win by Samuel Watson of Ineos Grenadiers.
Ivo Oliveira riding to a close second place.
Oliveira, having spent a long time in the hot seat, could only watch on as Watson narrowly beat his time at the line in Saint-Imier. The recent two-time Giro d’Abruzzo stage winner rode the course in a blistering average speed of 45.27kph for the Emirati squad, before Watson got his nose in front by a remarkable 0.0028 seconds.
The narrow margin of victory made for great viewing for those on the roadside, who had come out in their droves to welcome the riders to the latest edition of this historic race. Placing three riders inside the top 10 on the day, UAE Team Emirates-XRG could be satisfied with a strong start in the Bernese Jura.
Reflecting on his close call as he warmed down on his Elite rollers, Oliveira doffed his cap to the stage winner Watson and looked ahead to the rest of the week.
Oliveira: “I can definitely be proud. It was a long wait in the hot seat and obviously it is a hard pill to swallow because 0.002 seconds is nothing. It is like throwing the bike at the line, it is the blink of an eye. Losing my first WorldTour victory like this leaves me with no words.
“But obviously I am proud of how I rode, because I had no mistakes, I did a great ride and I prepared super well for this prologue with the team. In the end, there was one rider stronger than me and even if it was by this margin, he was stronger than me. So kudos to him and I will keep working for my first WorldTour victory.
“Once I finished the ride, I said I had no regrets. I did everything super good and everything went smoothly.
“If you see the top 15, we have four riders in there. That is amazing. The team is super strong, we have a super strong team and I think we can make a super GC here by the end of the week.”
Just as Oliveira nailed the course in Saint-Imier, so too did his teammates, with Jay Vine, Jan Christen and João Almeida finishing in ninth, tenth and eleventh, respectively. The latter was the first UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider down the ramp in the mid-afternoon, and the Portuguese made a fine start to his tilt at the general classification.
For Christen, the roads were awash with supporters, as the Swiss home favourite blasted his way around the circuit aboard the Colnago Y1Rs. On such a short course, there was always the possibility to complete this prologue aboard a road bike, something which Christen used to good effect. All four UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders inside the top 15 finished within six seconds of the stage winner, going to show how close the battle for the day’s honours proved.
On Wednesday, the Tour de Romandie will get underway in earnest, with stage 1 taking the riders from Mūnchenstein to Fribourg over almost 200km of racing. After Oliveira’s fantastic ride on the opening day, he will begin stage 1 tied on time for the race lead with Watson.
Content continues below the ads
Here's the Tour de Romandie report from sixth-place Stefan Kûng's Team Groupama-FDJ:
The Tour de Romandie got off to an intense start on Tuesday. As usual, a short prologue kicked off the Swiss race, and after the 3,440-metre course in Saint-Imier, Stefan Küng claimed sixth place, less than four seconds behind winner Samuel Watson. The Swiss time trial champion is now eyeing other stages this week, while David Gaudu made a safe return to competition.
Stefan Küng on his way to sixth place. Sirotti photo
Quite an unusual effort was on the table for the riders this Tuesday to start the Tour de Romandie. In the streets of Saint-Imier, the 3.4-kilometer prologue was indeed a rather brutal opening day of racing. “There was a small climb, but it was mainly the technical nature that made the course special,” explained Anthony Bouillod. “Regarding the equipment, we quickly chose the time trial bike, and I think it was the right option for most of the riders. There were doubts before the recon, but once we did it, it seemed quite logical to stick with this set-up.”
The first one to try it in racing mode was none other than David Gaudu, back to competition after his abandon in Tirreno-Adriatico. “David’s goal in this Tour de Romandie is to gain some confidence and prepare for the Giro,” assured Anthony. “Today was a good effort to reassure himself without taking risks, to have fun, to get back on his time trial bike and to get his bearings”. The French climber completed his prologue after four minutes and fifty-one seconds. “It’s always a special exercise,” he said at the finish. “I felt quite good on the uphill sections, but I didn’t take any risks.”
After him, Lorenzo Germani (4:42), Rémy Rochas (4:46), and Rémi Cavagna (4:45) set solid times, and Stefan Küng got to the starting ramp shortly before 5:00 p.m. Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, the Swiss time trial champion crossed the finish line, setting the fifth-best provisional time, three seconds behind the leader. “I’m bothered to have come so close, but in such an effort, you start hard, you give it your all, and you don’t think about pacing or anything else,” he said. “It’s hard to know what I missed. It’s such a specific effort, we almost never do it anymore, but I felt comfortable on this course because I know how to take good lines with the time trial bike. I really wanted to win, so I’m not happy.” The Groupama-FDJ rider ultimately took sixth place at the end of the stage, 3,71 seconds behind winner Samuel Watson. “We were expecting a very good result, even victory, and Stefan isn’t that far from it,” added Anthony. “Maybe he had the legs for it, but it was decided by small details. The good news is that he was in good shape to compete for the win.”
Frustrated with the day’s result, Stefan Küng was already thinking about the next stages. “I’m disappointed, but the week has only just begun,” he said. “I’m really happy to be back on the Tour de Romandie. It’s a race I love and one that proved successful for me in the past. I’m going to take every day as an opportunity.” David Gaudu will have other expectations: “I want to fight as much as possible every day, see how the legs are, and we’ll see what happens in the end. The most important thing is to get back into the race rhythm and get used to the nervosity of the peloton again.”
Content continues below the ads
Here's the Tour de Romandie report from eighth-place Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The Tour de Romandie – the last major stage race before the Giro d’Italia – got underway. The short parcours was a technical one, featuring nine corners, a tricky chicane just before the final kilometer, and some uphill sections which spiced things up Tuesday afternoon.
One of the last Soudal Quick-Step riders to roll down the start ramp, Remco raced with the prestigious rainbow jersey on his shoulders for the first time this year and managed to put together a nice time trial, despite the route not being one tailored to him. A time of 4:37, thanks to an average speed of 44.9km/h, helped the Belgian take his fourth top ten in just five days of racing this season, at the end of the prologue won by Samuel Watson (Ineos-Grenadiers).
Remco Evenepoel riding to eighth place Sirotti photo
The race continues on Wednesday with a hilly stage to Fribourg – the city located on the cultural border between German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland – where after almost 200 kilometers, the puncheurs should be in the spotlight.
Here's the Tour de Romandie report from Matthew Brennan's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Matthew Brennan took a fifteenth place in the prologue of the Tour de Romandie. The 19-year-old Brit of Team Visma | Lease a Bike delivered a powerful effort in the streets of Saint-Imier, eventually conceding seven seconds to stage winner Samuel Watson.
The Swiss stage race traditionally started with an ultra-short race against the clock. On the 3.4-kilometer course, Brennan stopped the clock at 4 minutes and 40 seconds. At the end of the day, he finished in 15th place. Brennan's compatriot Watson was the fastest of the day with a time of 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
"We came for more. We had hoped to compete for the podium spots, but unfortunately it didn't work out," sports director Maarten Wynants said. "Matthew was a bit disappointed. He didn't really understand where he had lost those seven seconds. A prologue is always fair, so we'll have to deal with it. Tomorrow another chance awaits."
Matthew Brennan winning this year's GP de Denain.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike is aiming for a good classification in Romandie with Jørgen Nordhagen and also wants to have a shot at a stage win with Brennan. "I think there are chances in the next three days, with tomorrow being the biggest. It's never easy to grab a stage win, so we have to fight really hard for it."
And here's the Tour de Romandie report from Pavel Bittner's Team Picnic-PostNL:
A fast 3.4 kilometre prologue around the streets of Saint-Imier got the Tour de Romandie underway on Tuesday afternoon. The technical route had several sharp corners and sections to put the power down on, plus a few short drags along the way. As a result, prologue specialists, sprinters and GC riders were all in the mix come the end of the day.
Team Picnic PostNL GC finisher Oscar Onley set a solid early benchmark but it would be fast-man Pavel Bittner who clocked the team’s best ride of the day. Cutting the timing beam with an effort of four minutes and 39 seconds, Bittner’s effort would ultimately be good enough for 12th place on the stage.
Pavel Bittner at the 2024 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
Bittner said: “I’m pretty happy with how things went today. I went into it to try my best today and sent it. In the end it was a quite decent result and a good opener for the next two or three days where there are some possible chances in the sprints. Oscar also really went for it too and did a solid ride in the GC, so overall it was a nice start and I’m excited for the next couple of days.”
Content continues below the ads
We posted the report from fourth-place Giovanni Lonardi's Team Polti-VisitMalta with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Lev Gonov's Team XDS Astana:
XDS Astana Development Team rider Lev Gonov, racing for the UCI WorldTour squad XDS Astana Team at the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye, claimed a brilliant victory on Stage 3 of the race. With the support of Nicolas Vinokurov, who helped him get into a strong position, Gonov won the sprint from a large leading group that had formed after a series of climbs.
Lev Gonov wins stage three.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to win today. It still feels a bit unreal. Actually, my main role was to bring our leaders to the front on the key climbs and try to survive the last one myself. I was feeling good, so on the final ascent, I decided to try attacking to test the group and thin it out a bit for our leaders, who were always near the front. When the peloton caught me, I managed to stay with them and recover a bit on the descent. About a kilometer from the finish, I found Nicolas Vinokurov’s wheel and shouted 'go'. He understood instantly and opened up his sprint, giving me the perfect lead-out. The group was quite tired and there was no clear favorite, so I launched off Nicolas’ wheel, gave it 100%, and it turned out to be enough for the win. I’m very happy with this success – it’s an incredible feeling. Huge thanks to the whole team for the support, it was amazing”, – said Lev Gonov.
Thanks to his stage victory, Gonov moved up to second place in the General Classification. However, decisive mountain stages are still ahead, where XDS Astana Team’s climbing leaders, Harold Martín López and Wout Poels, are expected to take over.
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary