
Photo Credit: Cor Vos
The first open road stage of the Tour de Romandie saw the bunch take on a 168 kilometre route from Aigle to Martigny this afternoon, which featured a large circuit and two short but sharp climbs. After a few early probing attacks, a breakaway of six riders was able to form out front in the opening ten kilometres with Thymen Arensman riding strongly to make the move, while the rest of the team stayed safe in the bunch.
Arensman’s group worked well together and initially built up an advantage of almost six minutes but the peloton soon started to pace and their gap diminished. Approaching the final double-header of climbs, the peloton had the breakaway within their sights but a defiant Arensman showed fighting spirit, attacking his breakaway companions and going clear solo. Riding strongly, he held off a charging peloton over the two ascents but was caught just as the reduced bunch hit the final descent.
Heading into the finale there were a few attacks but a headwind saw the stage finish in a reduced sprint, with Chad Haga leading the team home after Arensman’s ride in the breakaway.
Pos. | Rider | Team | Time | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SAGAN Peter | BORA - hansgrohe | 4:12:40 | 60 |
2 | COLBRELLI Sonny | Bahrain - Victorious | ,, | 25 |
3 | BEVIN Patrick | Israel Start-Up Nation | ,, | 10 |
47 | HAGA Chad | Team DSM | ,, | - |
60 | HAMILTON Chris | Team DSM | ,, | - |
64 | VAN WILDER Ilan | Team DSM | ,, | - |
65 | ARENSMAN Thymen | Team DSM | ,, | - |
89 | BRENNER Marco | Team DSM | 3:34 | - |
108 | GALL Felix | Team DSM | ,, | - |
114 | DENZ Nico | Team DSM | 7:22 | - |