Tour de Romandie 2025 Prologue

April 29, 2025 There are not many Prologues left in professional cycling but Tour de Romandie has stayed true and kept it as part of tradition for the 78th edition. The 3.4KM route loops through the beautiful valley town of Saint-Imier with 10 turns on the course including a 180 degree turn coming off a fast downhill. Gaps should be small but the effort is very particular to an in-form TT specialists, lead out riders, and sprinters. The weather was a balmy 20C (68F) with puffy clouds ambling overhead and the entire village seemed to be out cheering on the riders. Iván Romeo of Movistar set a fast early time at 4 minutes 36 seconds. A number of riders came within 3 seconds but it wasn't until Ivo Oliveira of UAE-XRG that he was beaten. Oliveira is coming off the best form of his career at the Giro d'Abruzzo with two stage wins. We did not get cameras on Sam Watson of Ineos but he was the only one to beat Oliveira with a time just .28 seconds faster. Watson was on a training ride in Girona just the day before when he got the call to come to the race and he made the trip worthwhile with a victory. The GC contenders mostly finished within 15 seconds down on Watson with the exception of Juan Pedro López of Lidl-Trek, Sergio Higuita of XDS-Astana, and Cristián Rodríguez of Arkéa-B&B Hotels who finished at 23, 24, and 27 seconds respectively.