Tour de Romandie: Geraint Thomas secures overall victory as Rémi Cavagna blitzes final TT

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) rode a scorching time trial to secure the GC at the Tour de Romandie.

Thomas finished third behind stage-winner Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), while Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) came second in the wet, technical TT that concluded the Swiss race.

Although Thomas only narrowly missed out on his first stage win in nearly 36 months, he smashed the time of overnight race-leader Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), securing the overall and scoring his first GC win since the 2018 Tour de France.

The result will make for a timely confidence boost as the Welshman builds toward a yellow jersey challenge this summer, and provided some salve after a bizarre crash potentially lost him the stage Saturday.

Also read: Thomas on Tour de Romandie crash: ‘I just lost the bars’

“I’m very happy, especially after the little mishap yesterday, which wasn’t ideal,” Thomas joked. “That definitely made it more of a challenge today.”

GERAINT THOMAS WINS THE TOUR DE ROMANDIE! pic.twitter.com/oeX8NTFBgi

— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) May 2, 2021

Woods finished 28th on the stage and tumbled out of the top three, finishing fifth overall.

Ineos Grenadiers took a one-two on the podium with Richie Porte on the second step after the Aussie veteran finished fifth on the stage. Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) rode the best TT of his career to grab third overall.

“I’m really happy to finish it off, it’s been a great week with the team,” Thomas said. “It was all about trying to take the jersey today and to get around safe. I’d have loved to have gone for the stage today but the last descent was a bit wet so I took it steady and finished the stage rather than risk it all.”

Thomas is not slated to race again until the Tour de France rolls out late June, and he heads into the TT-heavy grand tour as a top favorite.

“At the start of the year I said the goal was the Tour and every race was a build-up to it,” he said. “I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to perform early but I seem to have come into some good shape pretty soon. I’ve had a lot of good races building up, Catalunya was really good for the team, I was third there behind two teammates, so I knew I was going well.”

“Bike racing’s about winning,” Thomas said when asked about his long spell without victory. “It’s not like I’ve not been performing since I won the Tour. I’ve been up there, but it’s nice to finally get the win and break the duck.”

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) struggled on the technical course, finishing two minutes back on Cavagna’s winning time of 21:54. The Coloradan finished 14th overall. Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) finished 3:23 back to finish 96th overall, one hour down on former teammate Thomas.

Bissegger had been one of the first specialists to sit in the hot seat, with Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) unable to better the Swiss rider’s time.

Cavagna eventually toppled Bisseger with his race-winning ride before the GC contenders started to take the start ramp. The Frenchman sat on the hotseat for the next hour, and his position only looked at threat when Thomas pushed him close, setting a faster time at the first checkpoint. Thomas slowed in the second half, but did more than enough to overturn his 11-second deficit on Woods, who finished nearly one minute slower.

The result was Cavagna’s fifth pro win and his first of the season.

First win of the season for @remicav, who takes stage 5 of #TDR2021 after a huge ride!#No21in2021 #WayToRide
Photo: @billy_lebelge pic.twitter.com/Erc2Q2BtRf

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) May 2, 2021

Thomas will go to bed with a smile on his face on what was a frustrating day Saturday.

“I wasn’t winning the first hour or two afterward, I was pretty angry,” he said of the stage 4 crash. “But once it settled, you’ve just got to laugh – well, laugh or cry – and it’s better to laugh.”