Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) survived an all-day breakaway and still had enough left in the tank to win a three-rider sprint to secure the stage 2 victory and the overall lead at the Tour de Romandie.
Nys was part of an original six-rider breakaway, but only he and Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) made it to the last kilometre of the final 7km ascent before being joined by bridger Australian Champion Luke Plapp (Ineos-Grenadiers).
Plapp led the trio into the last 500 metres of the climb and then surged in an attempt to win the stage, but Vendrame hung onto his wheel and jumped through an inside bend in the road with 300 metres to go, with Nys on his wheel.
Nys was the fastest of the three when he launched his sprint in the final metres to take the stage win and the lead in the overall classification on the hilltop finish in Salvan/Les Marécottes. Vendrame finished in second place, and Plapp was forced to settle for third on the day.
Nys now leads the general classification by four seconds ahead of Vendrame and 22 seconds ahead of Plapp as the race continues with stage 3 on Friday.
How it unfolded
The second stage at the Tour de Romandie was a 171km race from Fribourg to Salvan/Les Marécottes. There was only one categorised ascent mid-race over Les Mosses: a 12.8km climb with an average gradient of 4.2% and a final 7km climb to the finish line that averaged 7.5% into Salvan-Les Marecottes.
A breakaway set off after the first 20km of racing with Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek), Roger Adrià (Bora-hansgrohe), Nikias Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), and Sean Flynn (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) building a lead out to four minutes before reaching the base of the climb to Les Mosses.
The breakaway split apart along the upper slopes of the ascent, with Ardnt and Flynn falling off the pace. But Meurisse, Nys, Adria, Vendrame, and Azparren pushed on through the valley roads and still held a three-minute gap as they approached the base of the final climb.
On the lower slopes of the ascent, Azparren lost contact, reducing the breakaway to four. The dwindled peloton, led by Ineos-Grenadiers, cut the gap to just one minute with 4km remaining.
Nys pushed the pace on the mid-section of the ascent, shredding Adria from the breakaway in the process, while Vendrame and a struggling Meurisse sat on his wheel. Vendrame soon moved to the front, and Nys carried on in pursuit of the stage.
Overnight leader Dorion Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was dropped from the main field with 3km to go after attacks from Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) and then Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) followed by Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Plapp and Lipowitz soon reached the breakaway of Nys, Vendrame, and Meurisse with just over a kilometre to go. Plapp surged again, but this time, only Nys and Vendrame could follow the Australian Champion.
Plapp led the trio into 500 metres to go, then surged with 300 metres out, but it was too soon, and Vendrame came around him through the final inside bend. As Vendrame raced for the line, Nys sprinted off his wheel to take the stage win.
Results
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