Julian Alaphilippe makes his first outing in nine years at the prestigious Swiss race, which will take place between 23-28 April.
The last World Tour event of the month, the 77th Tour de Romandie gets underway on Tuesday with a short prologue around Payerne and continues with a hilly stage finishing in Fribourg, the charming town founded almost nine centuries ago. The first proper test for the climbers will come one day later, on the summit finish of Les Marécottes, but the general classification could be in for some more changes just twenty-four hours later.
A 15.5km individual time trial held on the rolling roads of Oron promises to spice up the fight between the yellow jersey contenders just before the second uphill finish of the race, Leysin, coming after a day peppered with five classified climbs. The race concluded on Sunday, in Vernier, where a relentless up-and-down course without a single meter of flat could make for an action-packed day.
Julian Alaphilippe will be at the start of the Tour de Romandie for just the second time in his career, following the 2015 edition, which he raced as a second-year pro. The two-time World Champion – who is slated to make his Giro d’Italia debut next month – will be joined on the Soudal Quick-Step team by Kasper Asgreen, Mattia Cattaneo, last year’s Romandie prologue winner Josef Cerny, Fausto Masnada – who finished third overall here in 2021, neo-pro Pepijn Reinderink, and Ilan Van Wilder.
“We go to the Tour de Romandie with a strong team, confident and motivated to do a solid race. Our roster comprises a couple of time trial specialists, so we hope for some good results on those stages. We also have Ilan, who will be our GC leader. He can rely on the likes of Julian and Fausto for the hard stages, and hopefully, be in the mix for a strong overall result”, said sports director Dries Devenyns.
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