James Knox moves up in the general classification with one day to go.
The threat of snow and wet descents prompted a change of course from the organisers ahead of the Tour de Romandie queen stage. Two of the scheduled four ranked climbs were removed in the morning, leaving only 105.3 kilometers and less than 2000 vertical meters on the menu of the day, which took the peloton up to Torgon, a 10.5km-long ascent averaging 6.8%.
Deceuninck – Quick-Step started the day with six riders, after Elia Viviani was forced to pull out of the race due to a small flu: “I was a bit sick in the last couple of days, but kept going because this event was an important step to do for my big goal, the Giro d’Italia. I’m happy with the shape I have and I just needed to add a few recovery days before the Giro, so that’s why I took this decision together with the team.”
Early in the race, an eight-man breakaway took off and built a healthy margin on this rain-soaked day, but several teams committed to the chase and trimmed the advantage of the escapees, among whom was also Remco Evenepoel. The 19-year-old Deceuninck – Quick-Step neo-pro, who in Switzerland is racing his third World Tour event of the season, pedalled strongly in the group, exchanging turns at the front with his companions until with nine kilometers to go, when he was reabsorbed by the peloton, who then went on to claw back all the other escapees.
Attacks came only inside the final kilometer of the climb, several members of the reduced bunch being keen on moving clear ahead of the plateau where the stage would conclude, and this translated into a frantic pace and some riders being distanced, including James Knox. The young Brit paced himself admirably on the tough gradients of Torgon and led the chase in the first group behind Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), a solid effort which saw him arrive home less than half a minute behind the stage victor.
“I’m pretty satisfied with how it went today. Of course, I wish I could have been with that front group and fight for the win, but I got distanced when the hammer went down approaching the top of the climb and from there had to fight to the line in a small group to limit the losses. The boys helped me all day, keeping me out of the wind, taking my winter clothing and putting me in a perfect position for the climb, so I gave it all to try something and finish off their work”, explained James, whose admirable effort elevated him to 16th place in the general classification ahead of the Geneva individual time trial.
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
