Heading towards Fribourg on Wednesday, Enzo Paleni attempted to make the most of the first road stage of the Tour de Romandie by joining the breakaway. The peloton, however, remained in control, and the leading group also split up halfway through the race. The young Frenchman was caught before the final hour of racing, then Matthew Brennan dominated a sprint of seventy riders for the victory. Rémy Rochas, David Gaudu, and Stefan Küng finished with the same time as the winner, and the Swiss man therefore kept his sixth place overall.
In the aftermath of the the shortest day of racing (3.4 kilometers on the prologue, editor’s note), the longest was on the menu this Wednesday on the Tour de Romandie, with nearly 195 kilometres to cover between Münchenstein and Fribourg on an undulating profile. “We said we would try to go in the breakaway,” explained Stéphane Goubert. “Enzo saw the opportunity and seized it.” After ten minutes of racing, five men took the lead ahead of the peloton, where three teams quickly took on the chase. “Enzo and his breakaway companions got a maximum lead of four minutes,” said Stéphane. “Then, some guys attacked in the front for the mountain points, which wasn’t very wise in my opinion. They should have tried to stay together as long as possible.” In a series of three hard climbs hallway through the race, the breakaway split apart. Enzo Paleni found himself alone chasing Ben Zwiehoff and Gerben Kuypers, and was later caught by the bunch, with more than sixty kilometres to go. The leading duo was reeled in with twenty-five kilometres remaining, while the tension gradually grew within the pack.
“Tomorrow could be a stage with a lot of action”, Stéphane Goubert
Around local rider Stefan Küng, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team remained well-positioned as the final stage approached but was unable to get in the mix for the stage win as the peloton was still quite big despite the last two slightly uphill kilometres. “We wanted to try to do a nice sprint, but the final was a bit dangerous, and we didn’t want to take too many risks, especially with the Giro coming up,” added Stéphane. “It was a good day nonetheless, although the guys suffered a bit from the heat overall today, as did the whole peloton. It was still a long, hard day, with 3,000 meters of climbing.” Matthew Brennan eventually won a small bunch sprint on Wednesday, Rémy Rochas was as the team’s first rider on the line (22nd), while another hilly profile awaits the riders tomorrow. “It will be hard at the start with two nice climbs, and it’s going to be tiring”, concluded Stéphane. “It could be a day for the breakaway. If there’s a will in the peloton to be aggressive, it could make for a very tough stage, with a lot of action. We have to be prepared for it, without putting all our energy into the first part of the race”.
