Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) continued his fine start to the season by winning the prologue of the Tour de Romandie.
The in-form Pole beat the likes of world champion team-mate Tony Martin, Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre-Merida) to take the first yellow jersey of the Tour.
After Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEDGE) had set the early benchmark of 6’28”, Kwiatkowski – one-second down at the intermediate time-check – turned it around in the latter half of the race to record a time six seconds faster.
Fellow GC contender Tejay van Garderen, another of the early riders out on the course, suffered a disastrous day however – a crash resulting in him losing more than three minutes.
Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) moved into second place having matched Lancaster’s time for the first section of the race, while Moreno Hofland (Belkin) and Thomas de Gendt (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) also could not kick Kwiatkowski off the hot seat after strong starts.
Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) and, impressively, Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) both crossed four seconds down on the Pole but as more big-name riders came and went without challenging his time, his victory began to appear all the more likely.
Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) was 16 seconds slower, Nibali crossed 12 seconds down, while Richie Porte (Team Sky) – riding his first stage race after his recent illnesses – lost 22 seconds.
Tony Martin – facing a headwind he hit the latter part of the course – could only cross the line five seconds slower than his team-mate.
And Froome, the last man out on the course, was unable to replicate his stage victory from last year’s race as he crossed nine seconds down.
It means the Pole will race in the leader’s jersey on the first road stage of the event and will be keen to replicate Froome’s achievement of leading from start to finish.
Tour de Romandie: prologue
1) Michal Kwiatkowski (POL) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep – 6.22
2) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – Garmin-Sharp +4”
3) Marcel Kittel (GER) – Giant-Shimano – ST
4) Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA) – Trek Factory Racing
5) Tony Martin (GER) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep +5”
6) Brett Lancaster (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE +6”
7) Matthias Brandle (AUT) – IAM Cycling +7”
8) Jesse Sergent (NZL) – Trek Factory Racing +8”
9) Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) – Garmin-Sharp +9”
10) Martijn Keizer (NED) – Belkin Pro Cycling – ST
General classification
1) Michal Kwiatkowski (POL) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep – 6.22
2) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – Garmin-Sharp +4”
3) Marcel Kittel (GER) – Giant-Shimano – ST
4) Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA) – Trek Factory Racing
5) Tony Martin (GER) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep +5”
6) Brett Lancaster (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE +6”
7) Matthias Brandle (AUT) – IAM Cycling +7”
8) Jesse Sergent (NZL) – Trek Factory Racing +8”
9) Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) – Garmin-Sharp +9”
10) Martijn Keizer (NED) – Belkin Pro Cycling – ST
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