Top ten for Junior Lecerf, who made significant inroads in the overall standings.
Our best placed rider on the general classification of the Tour de Romandie following Tuesday’s prologue, Louis Vervaeke was keen on not spending in the peloton the first road stage of this edition, and instead decided to attack with the clear goal of animating things on the roads around Martigny.
The 32-year-old Belgian was one of the strongest riders in the seven-man breakaway that formed soon after the start, helping the move take their advantage to a maximum of 3:30. The group managed to stay up the road until the early slopes of Ovronnaz, the hardest climb of this edition, where Vervaeke - one of the last four riders still in the front group - was caught following a change of tempo in the bunch.
A handful of riders went clear on the gradients that rarely dipped below 8%, while behind a group began organising the chase. Junior Lecerf was Soudal Quick-Step’s rider there, and the young Belgian contributed to the pace-setting, keeping the chasers’ hopes of bridging across alive until the final kilometer. Eventually, they missed out on catching the quartet for just 15 seconds, but Junior still had enough left to sprint to eighth place for his third top ten in two participations here.
“It was a nice and lively start. I attacked together with other riders with the aim to form a strong breakaway, which we did, and we all worked well there. In fairness, we were hoping for a bigger advantage at the bottom of the last climb, but it ended up being a general classification day. But we showed how motivated we are to fight for good results, Junior also did a strong stage, and this makes us confident for the week”, Louis explained after the finish.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
