The 23-year-old Brit finished second in the best young rider classification.
For the third time in the last four years, the Tour de Romandie – one of the two Swiss races on the World Tour calendar – pulled down the curtain in Geneva, host of a 16.85km-long individual time trial, split into two different halves: a rolling one, where the significant gaps appeared despite the headwind, and a flat and fast one taking the riders to the finish line on Quai Gustave-Ador.
After spending 90 kilometers in the breakaway on the queen stage, Remco Evenepoel produced a fine ride less than twenty-four hours later, averaging 48.489km/h and stopping the clock in 20:51; this result saw our 19-year-old Belgian neo-pro slot into 15th at the end of the day, just seven seconds off a top 10 in the longest ITT he has done since turning pro.
Best placed Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider in the general classification, James Knox started the last stage in 16th place, but thanks to a gutsy ride – his best performance in a time trial at this level – he gained two positions in the final standings. After eighth overall at the UAE Tour, 14th in Romandie confirmed the progress he has made since joining the team, but at the same time it was a bittersweet result, as James was quick to point out.
“Overall, I am very happy with how this week went, especially to finish with a good time trial, as I have always struggled with this in the past. Today I showed that I have made a big step up in this discipline. On the other hand, I came here to give the GC a crack and to miss out on a top 10 overall after some bad luck on stage 3, where I lost time due to that late crash in front of me, is a bit disappointing”, said James, who was second in the best young rider classification at the Tour de Romandie.
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