Five days of racing ahead in western Switzerland

Costa Rican finishes 19" behind Matthews (SUN), leads Blues in Swiss race - set to be decided into Friday's mountain TT and Saturday's mountainous route around Sion.

Australia’s Michael Matthews (SUN) donned the first leader’s jersey in the 2018 Tour de Romandie after winning a difficult prologue in Fribourg (4km), with a technical descent followed by two bridges, cobblestones, lots of twists and turned and a full last kilometer uphill.

The Movistar Team started off their appearance in the first Swiss race of the 2018 UCI WorldTour calendar with Andrey Amador as top finisher, 19″ behind the winner. The Blues showed a consistent overall level, with five members -including Sepúlveda, Rojas, Betancur and Rosón- within less than half a minute behind Matthews.

The race for the GC should probably start on Friday, with a hilly TT from Ollon to Villars (10km) before Saturday’s big mountain stage around Sion. Before that, stages one and two should offer a chance for the fastest riders in the bunch, even if Wednesday’s route, 166km to Delémont, goes twice through the climb of ‘La Sommet’ (Cat-2) on its final loop.

Picture 1 (c): Photo Gomez Sport