2018, 72nd Tour de Romandie, April 24th - April 29th, WT

[Netserk]

72nd Tour de Romandie

Startlist: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-romandie/2018/startlist

Main contenders:
Thomas, Martin, Fuglsang, Izagirre, Roglič, Latour, Špilak, (Porte).

Matthews, Albasini and Gav/Viviani for stage wins.

 

[Netserk]

Times for the prologue:

 

[Leinster]

Am I alone in looking at that prologue and thinking “that’s a waste of a race day”? Especially with a mountain TT later in the week?

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Am I alone in looking at that prologue and thinking “that’s a waste of a race day”? Especially with a mountain TT later in the week?

Yeah, a bit.
We should finally see what Roglic is capable of doing on longer climbs.
BMC will try anything to win this one, but I don't know if Porte is still at 100%.
Thomas is probably the favourite, but the MTT instead of a flat ITT gives the others a better chance.
Buchmann should b really good in the MTT, Bernal also (if hes fully recovered) and maybe we'll even get a good MTT from the pocket sized climbing prospect Fabbro.
How's the weather supposed to be, nice weather or Spilak weather?

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Re:

Am I alone in looking at that prologue and thinking “that’s a waste of a race day”? Especially with a mountain TT later in the week?

I love good old-fashioned 4-6 km prologues and I miss them a lot at GTs. So no, not a waste at all.

 

[Anderis]

Re:

Am I alone in looking at that prologue and thinking “that’s a waste of a race day”? Especially with a mountain TT later in the week?

Well, to me the whole route looks like a waste of a one-week race.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Richie vs Thomas methink.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Am I alone in looking at that prologue and thinking “that’s a waste of a race day”? Especially with a mountain TT later in the week?

I love good old-fashioned 4-6 km prologues and I miss them a lot at GTs. So no, not a waste at all.

Better than a flat sprint stage

 

[fauniera]

Excellent parcours. The prologue will be very nice as well.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Am I alone in looking at that prologue and thinking “that’s a waste of a race day”? Especially with a mountain TT later in the week?

I love good old-fashioned 4-6 km prologues and I miss them a lot at GTs. So no, not a waste at all.

Better than a flat sprint stage

Oh yes it is. Especially a prologue like this

 

[RedheadDane]

Main contenders:
Thomas, Martin, Fuglsang, Izagirre, Roglič, Latour, Špilak, (Porte).

Which one?

 

[Red Rick]

What a waste of a stage race. It's all about that MTT.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Richie vs Thomas methink.

Roglic

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Richie vs Thomas methink.

Roglic

Roglic will be very interesting to see.

Bernal for the win

 

[DNP-Old]

Roglic is still hurt after his crash in Itzulia.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Richie vs Thomas methink.

Roglic

Birdsong

 

[Krokro]

Roglic has this, this is tailor-made for him! Thomas is his main rival Imo. Watch out for Fuglsang as well.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Roglic is still hurt after his crash in Itzulia.

His team doesn't think so. Seems fine to me

 

[Valv.Piti]

Weird route indeed, but stage 2 and stage 5 could be fun. Always interesting to watch a mountain ITT, looking out for Rosón and Betancur ahead of the Giro.

 

[RedheadDane]

Hmm, would regular bikes be necessary for the ITT - about 8% gradient - or could the powerhouse Tony Martin types push it up on the TT bike?
At least they won't have to change bikes by the looks of it.

 

[rune1107]

Atrocious route. However, I'm looking forward to seeing how Porte is doing. Roglic for GC

 

[El Pistolero]

Looks like an easy win for Roglič if his crash in Pais Vasco didn't affect him too much. Porte will likely put all his eggs in the Tour basket once again, because that worked out so well for him last year. Thomas will likely be the biggest rival of Roglič.

 

[RedheadDane]

Porte didn't do that bad in the Tour last year, at least until his somewhat bad decision to go off road...

 

[Jungle Cycle]

thats not a typical itt prologue road...

https://twitter.com/AstanaTeam/status/988435082905030657

 

[RedheadDane]

Good thing it's an ITT. Having a full peloton go through there could cause some issues.