In the first road stage of the Tour de Romandie 2024 Dorian Godon he took both the victory and the lead in the standings: at the finish line of Freiburg the sprint was difficult to read, so much so that behind him Andrea Vendramehis partner in the Decathlon AG2R World Championship, should have taken part in the sprint, but the Frenchman was able to maintain such a high speed (thanks also to the slight negative slope of the arrival) that no one has been able to surpass him, including Vendrame. Many teams got the timing wrong: from Lidl-Trek, where Simone Consonni he had to get up after that Thibau Nys he had lost his wheel, at Alpecin-Decenuninck, where Gianni Vermeersch he couldn’t keep up with the wheel of Xandro Meurisse.
Godon, who was fourth overall yesterday, jumped to first place surpassing both Maikel Zijlaard That Cameron Scottboth detached on one of the eats and drinks that characterized the hamlet, while Julian Alaphilippe he tried several times a finisseur action like those that gave him so much satisfaction in past years, but he remained third in the standings due to the game of bonuses: for him the signs are encouraging, given the physical problems that have once again conditioned him since here in the season.
Tour of Romandie 2024, the chronicle of the second stage
After the victory of Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor) in yesterday’s prologue, today the Tour of Romandie restarted with the first stage from Château d’Oex to Friborg of 165.7 km. The stage was suitable for finisseurs with a succession of climbs and very little flat terrain: at the beginning the Sorens climb, 2nd category, and then the circuit with three third category climbs in Arconciel and two third category climbs in Lorette. The final climb to Arconciel (1.8km at 7.3%), ended with 9.1 kilometers to go.
After a handful of kilometres, a sextet with Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took off, Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Wanty), Raúl García Pierna» (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Fausto Masnada (Soudal Quick-Step), Joey Rosskopf (Q36.5), Patrick Gamper (BORA-hansgrohe): it was the Italian who started the action three kilometers from the start. For them the maximum advantage was almost 4′ after about 80 km from the start. Of the six GPM finishes seen, three, the only one in the second category, were won by Rosskopfwhile the next three, of third, from Hollmannand the last a Fausto Masnada.
76 km from the finish, after the third GPM, Maikel Zijlaard, who started with the leader’s jersey, lost contact with the main group. Above all, Tudor was working at the head of the group (probably for Alberto Dainese), Lidl-Trek (which aimed at Thibau Nys) and EF Education-EasyPost. Just after the penultimate Gpm, on the Lorette (-35 km), Jan Christen (UAE Emirates) extended decisively, followed by Richard Carapaz (EF) e David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), which took a handful of seconds before being recaptured. Alex Aranburu’s Movistar led the chase.
On the last climb of Arenciel, with -9 to go, it was Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), third overall, tried the lunge without success. Immediately after the escape was resumed, Herregodts set off again, chased by Masnada, another survivor of the six. On a small tear at -6 Alaphilippe left again, again closed by the group. The last attempt was a new gap by Gamper at -2, while then in the last km it was Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to take margin (actually he was working for Gianni Vermeersch), immediately closed by Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek), who however did not have Thibau Nys at his wheel, and therefore got up again: behind Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Monde) was launching the sprint Andrea Vendramebut both were very short, and the slightly downhill finish line offered very high speed, so much so that the The Frenchman continued the action to the finish line, crossing the finish line with his teammate close behind. Behind them was third Gianni Vermeerschfourth Milan Menten (Lotto Dstny) and fifth Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step)-
Godon wears an ephemeral yellow
Now Godon wears the yellow jersey, followed in the general classification by Vermeersch to 6″ and from Julian Alaphilippe at 9″. The Frenchman is also first in the points classification, while in the climbers’ classification Hollmann is leading on 31 points with nine points over Masnada. Tomorrow we start again from Friborg to arrive at Salvan/Les Marécottes after 171 km: it is the first of the two mountain hamlets that will probably decide this Tour de Romandie. The first climb will be the Col des Mosses (13.4 km at 4.1% average). We will then pass through Aigle, to arrive after about thirty kilometers at Les Marecottes (7.8 km at 7.3%): in the final there will be two km at 9% and a stretch at 13% in the last kilometre.
