May 2, 2026
Things are getting serious with two big days today and tomorrow to cap off another edition of the Tour de Romandie. The peloton will set off from Broc and immediately head for the Jaunpass before turning around to climb the other side and come back to Broc. The front side ascent is 6 km at 7.8% then there is a little loop out to Weissenbach before climbing the backside which is slightly harder at 7.4 km and 8.8% average. The bunch will pass through the finish line in Charmey before doing a long lap through Montbovon, Les Moulins, and Saanen. Once in Saanen with 46 km to go, the bunch will start the Saanenmöser which is 6 km at 4%. The descent passes through Zweisimmen and Garstaat for a bonus sprint before tackling the Jaunpass from a third side. The final time up the Jaunpass is 8.1 km at 8.3% and summits 16.5 km from the finish which may be close enough to tempt someone to attack and go solo from the top.
Race Summary
Has the Tour de Romandie ever experienced such consistently wonderful weather? Warm temperatures, blue skies, and smiles were all around at the sign-on in Broc. When the race got started, a larger group broke away on the first passage of the Jaunpass but by the second, it had reduced in size. When live coverage began, a group of six were clear including Primož Roglič of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Michael Leonard of EF-Education EasyPost, Maxime Decomble of Groupama-FDJ United, Louis Vervaeke and Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep, and Roland Thalmann of Tudor Pro Cycling. Thalmann won the points atop the first two climbs which gave him a very comfortable lead in that competition. With 75 km to go on the approach to Montbovon, the leaders had 2 minutes 25 seconds on the UAE-XRG led peloton.
Vervaeke took the sprint unconstested through the wooden chalets of Les Moulins with 60 km to go. The break still had 2 minutes 10 seconds but they had to work visibly harder to keep the peloton at bay. The trip from Les Moulins to Saanen was spectacular. The road twisted through the valley with high peaks on either side and cows dotting the green meadows in between. At the start of the Saanenmöser, the break had 1 minute 45 seconds and were forced to push on. The first casualty was Decomble, then Thalmann as Roglič powered away on the front.
The Saanenmöser was a big ring climb and suited the peloton a bit better. 20 seconds were cut off the gap by the top with 40 km to go and the gap continued to drop as the race slowly lost altitude down the Simme River gorge road. Vervaeke led the break through the Chicco d'Oro sprint point in Garstaat with 25 km to go and started climbing right away.
Vervaeke pulled off when the final ascent of the Jaunpass began as Roglič, Paret-Peintre, and Leonard pressed on to preserve their 1 minute 10 second advantage. Leonard was distanced but he didn't give up and kept fighting to get back to the leaders. The problem for the break was that Felix Großschartner of UAE-XRG was setting an infernal pace in the peloton which had cut the gap to just 20 seconds with 3.5 km to climb. When Großschartner pulled off a few hundred meters later, Tadej Pogačar attacked and was covered by Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious, Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, and Jørgen Nordhagen of Visma-Lease a Bike. In a matter of moments, Pogačar and the others were across to the three leaders and went straight passed. Gaps started to form back to Martinez and Nordhagen but Lipowitz had the match of Pogačar and was able to stick with the Slovenian.
Pogačar continued to lead Lipowitz until 1,300 meters from the top on a steep bend when Lipowitz had to let the wheel go. By the time Pogačar went over the KOM line, he had 1 minute on a group that contained Martinez and Nordhagen with Lipowitz in the middle at 20 seconds. On the fast, sweeping descent, Carlos Rodríguez of Ineos had a crash in group three that looked quite bad. He was able to get on his bike again but his back was ripped up and he didn't have much of a jersey left.
In the last few flat kilometers, it was an individual pursuit between Pogačar and Lipowitz. The gap was a bit too large for Lipowitz to completely close down but when Pogačar crossed the line to take his third win of the week, only 14 seconds had passed before Lipowitz came home for second place. In the race for third, Pablo Castrillo of Movistar attacked group three which had swelled to fifteen riders on the descent. He managed to stay clear and hit the line 1 minute 42 seconds down with the rest of group three coming in 5 seconds later.
The GC is finally starting to break open. Pogačar now leads Lipowitz by 35 seconds and Lenny Martinez by 2 minute 23 seconds. The final spot on the podium is still tight with Nordhagen, Luke Plapp, Luke Tuckwell, and Jefferson Cepeda all within 25 seconds of Martinez with one mountain top finish to come.