The Frenchman isn’t far from the yellow jersey going into Friday’s stage against the clock.
Our team started the third day of the Tour de Romandie in six, after sickness forced James Knox to abandon the race, but that didn’t prevent the remaining Soudal Quick-Step boys from controlling the stage in the first part for yellow jersey Ethan Vernon.
Despite the profile comprising five classified climbs, and the brutal tempo that some teams pushed there to drop the fast men, the Brit put in a spirited ride, managing to hang in there until the penultimate ascent, where both he and Josef Cerny got distanced. In the end, a small bunch sprint decided the stage winner, and that was Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), who emerged as the fastest in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Rémi Cavagna came home with the main group and remained on the overall podium of the competition, just six seconds from the lead, ahead of the second and last individual time trial. An undulating 18.7km parcours around Châtel-Saint-Denis awaits on Friday, promising to shake up the general classification.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
