Tour de Romandie stage 2: Sonny Colbrelli snags first win of 2021

Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) dashed to his first victory of 2021 on Thursday to win out of a reduced bunch of GC favorites and surviving sprinters in stage 2 at the Tour de Romandie.

A first-category climb with just under 20km to go separated the wheat from the chafe in the 165km second stage that delivered a thrilling reduced bunch sprint in the second stage at the Tour de Romandie. Colbrelli, second in Wednesday’s first stage, fended off the bunch to win.

“My team did a great job, and they did their best to get me there,” Colbrelli said. “Yesterday, I started too soon, and today I got it right. I really suffered on the climb but there was a lot of headwind, so that helped me to get over it with the favorites.”

Despite a hilly profile and a strong breakaway, there were no major shakeups in the overall at the six-day Tour de Romandie.

Ineos Grenadiers kept its stranglehold on the GC fully intact, with all three of its GC riders still at the top of the GC standings.

Overnight leader Rohan Dennis survived the stage to retain the leader’s jersey, with Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte defending their top GC spots.

Patrick Bevin (Israel Start-Up Nation) moved up from fifth into second on time bonuses, with Thomas now in third and Porte fourth.

Rohan Dennis pulls on the front

Overnight leader Dennis resumed his role as “super-domestique” on the day’s main obstacle at the Cat. 1 La Vue des Alpes with about 20km to go.

Just like he did in last year’s Giro d’Italia, Dennis moved to the front to set a blistering pace for GC leaders Porte and Thomas. Even though he started in the leader’s jersey, he was doing the work on the front.

The undulating stage saw an elite group pull clear, with such riders as yesterday’s winner Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) losing the wheel against the GC favorites.

Also read: Peter Sagan — ‘I never left’

An early break was reeled in, but Ineos Grenadiers massed to the front to ensure that nothing got too far out of hand. Chris Hamilton (Team DSM), who was part of the day’s early move, later abandoned the stage.

Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), with Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) marking his wheel, tried in vain to split the main bunch on the upper parts of the day’s final climb, but a gusting headwind complicated matters.

Ineos Grenadiers massed at the front, and it was all downhill to the line.

Passage à la ville de La Chaux-de-Fonds. Un peloton qui retrouve la foule, ça fait chaud au coeur ! #TDR2021#TDRnonstop pic.twitter.com/1NzoqcPWyF

— Tour de Romandie (@TourDeRomandie) April 29, 2021

What’s next — a day for the attackers

The 74th Tour de Romandie continues Friday with the 168.7km third stage on a circuit in Estavayer.

The stage ends with a finishing circuit littered with third-category climbs that won’t present a major obstacle for the GC riders, but could provoke some breakaway efforts.

Stage 1 winner Sagan said he didn’t expect to see another group sprint, and with two sharp climbs in the closing kilometers, the final lap will see some sparks before going into Saturday’s “queen stage” with a mountaintop finale.