Race thread: 🇨🇭 Tour of Romandy 2026, Apr 28 – May 3
This 6-day World Tour race across the French-speaking areas of Switzerland, begins with a short prologue and will then propose a more mountainous course than it usually does.
Teams and riders
The ultra-favourite is Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE), first-timer on this race. Unless an accident happens to him, the other riders will have to fight each other for podium and top-X positions: Lipowitz (🇩🇪 Bora), Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain), Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco) for example. Should I mention Gaudu (🇫🇷 FDJ) who seems to finally return to competition, or are 6 days of competition still twice as long as what he can sustain?
There will only be 15 teams on the race, which shall constitute the thinnest peloton of the year, all levels included... 4 World Teams used their unique yearly joker to decline their participation, perhaps because of Pogatchar🇸🇮's presence; and the organiser, made skint by the departure of an important sponsor, only went and fetched a single Pro Team (Tudor 🇨🇭).
Stages
Most courses are made of circuits, possibly to reduce costs.
Tuesday 28: 3.2 km prologue
Wednesday 29: 171 km
Thursday 30: 173 km
Friday 1: 177 km
Saturday 2: 150 km
Sunday 3: 178 km last stage
https://www.tourderomandie.ch/en/Open linkView original on sh.itjust.works
Conclusion
Pogatchar🇸🇮 won 4 stages out of 5 mass start stages and 1 prologue, but that shouldn't fool us into believing that he crushed the race and his opponents like he usually does. He wasn't so much above the rest, especially Lipowitz🇩🇪, and had to put all he had in several cases. It was more a victory à la Roglitch🇸🇮 (back in the days when he wasn't a holiday-maker yet): one little break on a good day, a little sprint or attack in the few last hundred metres to catch time bonuses otherwise. Or his last week at the Tour of France last year.
On day 2, he couldn't drop L. Martinez🇫🇷 and then was caught up by Lipowitz🇩🇪 and even Nordhagen🇳🇴 then. Victory in a mini sprint.
On day 3, he didn't try to break away, while the course profile would have somewhat allowed it, and he certainly would have done it if it had been a classic and not stage race. Victory in a sprint.
On day 4, he didn't try to break away in the main climb (with 20 km of downhill and 10 km flat remaining).
On day 5, he managed to break away but couldn't create nor maintain a significant gap after the climb. The gap with Martinez🇫🇷 and such riders grew because their group stopped pulling, but Lipowitz🇩🇪 who kept pushing alone reduced his loss to less than 15 seconds. A couple of extra miles and Pogatchar🇸🇮 may have been caught by the German rider, he couldn't go any faster.
On day 6, he couldn't really drop Lipowitz🇩🇪 and was even caught up by Roglitch🇸🇮 in the end. Victory in a mini sprint.
On many occasions he looked like he couldn't go faster than he was going (unlike in Liège where he looked often easy, and like he had some margin in the rare moment he didn't look too easy), and he looked tired after the stages.
3 kilometres were twice as long as he could sustain 🤣 +50′, 93^rd^ out of 103 riders. He may have taken a wrong way or changed bike...
Yesterday, it was a puncture.
Today, arriving 12 minutes after the winners, it must have been 20 punctures. 😜
Wednesday 29: 171 km
If someone understood Lipowitz🇩🇪's attitude, please let me know. 🙂 🤨
Day 4
So far, this Tour de Romandie has been entertaining. Globally, nobody understands what most teams and riders are doing 😃
Yesterday, we had: Ineos uselessly spending their forces one lap before the finish, tiring Godon🇫🇷's own legs; Bora pulling like maniacs in the last climb, with Roglitch🇸🇮 retiring after one relay; Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) killing all attacks like he was working for a teammate, but there was no teammate left in that front peloton; Pogatchar🇸🇮 beating Godon🇫🇷 on the sprint...
Today, we had Godon (🇫🇷 Ineos) dropped early in the main climb, yet reappearing like a miracle in the peloton while the same peloton was chasing the breakaway hard; Caruso (🇮🇹 Barhrain) not relaying once in the breakway; 3 FDJ riders in a breakaway of 7, busy doing Holiday-on-ice figures when they were not pulling hard (while the Italian was resting all along) and blowing themselves up; Caruso🇮🇹 then attacking and dropping everyone; when he's caught 20 km later by 2 survivors (A.K.A. the non-FDJ riders), he doesn't relay once in 15 km again; in the peloton, Roglitch🇸🇮 retiring after one small relay...
The common thread everyday is Gaudu🇫🇷 being related to the back of the peloton as soon as there is a hill, and then dropped in the final/main climb. Sivakov🇫🇷 isn't much better.