Frenchman Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) won the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse on Sunday, with a courageous attack on rain sodden roads around Lake Lucerne.
The 22 year-old attacked a leading group of four over the top of the final climb, some 14km from the finish of the 129.4km stage, descending expertly on the sketchiest of roads. Despite a coordinated response from the three chasers, he maintained a small lead to the line, winning ahead of compatriot Kévin Vaquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), with Dutchman Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike) in third.
Earlier in the day Grégoire found himself part of a huge breakaway which formed inside the stage’s first 30km, working brilliantly to distance the peloton. With the main bunch finishing more than three minutes down, many of the pre-race favourites may mown have to shift their plans to long range attacks or even stage wins.
Those opening kilometres were fabulously active and entertaining racing ono what was, at 129.4km, a short stage aggressive day’s racing. Finishing fourth on the day, former world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) was the part of the first attack to stick, placing himself in the lead group early in the day.
“It’s always something special to win at the WorldTour level, so I’m really happy. We were all at the same level with Kévin, Bart and Julian, but I rode the technical part great, so that’s really cool,” Grégoire said at the finish.
The young Frenchman’s success not only places him in the overall lead, but he is also the best young rider, and leads the points classification ahead of Monday’s second stage, when the peloton will take on a challenging 177km stage between Aarau and Schwarzsee.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The opening day of this year’s eight day Tour de Suisse set the tone for a challenging week, the day’s punchy 129.4km route serving up 1,939m of climbing over its four classified climbs. Starting and finishing in Küssnacht, the route followed exactly the same course as the women’s final stage, which took place earlier in the day.
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Uphill almost straight away, a busy bunch tackled the first of two ascents of the third category Adligenswilerstrasse, which topped out after only 6.5km, as they negotiated a loop into the suburbs of Lucerne. Multiple attacks here caused the bunch to briefly split, 20 riders getting a small advantage, though that soon re-formed.
The flat road ahead of the next climb brought plenty of attacking but still nothing failed to stick as the race reached the base of the day’s fiercest climb, Michaelskreuz, which averages 9% gradient over its 3.9km.
Over the top of this climb Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-Alula) got away, with a fractured peloton chasing behind. While that re-formed, such was the chaotic nature of the race, the bunch split again and a large group set off in pursuit of the leaders.
With 80km to go, many of the day’s starting riders were out of contention, sitting three minutes behind a leading peloton of 28, with some teams present in that leading group represented by multiple riders.
After the chaotic opening, the race now settled, the leading bunch generally working well as their advantage on the large peloton behind settled around around the 3:40 mark. Victory for the leading bunch was far from assured, though, falling rain contributing to a crash which split the group who rode through the finish to tackle the day’s opening loop for a second time, their lead at 3.20, just under 40km from the finish.
While the leading group crested the penultimate ascent, the Adligenswilerstrasse, their advantage began to drop, despite the now soaked roads. However, as the leaders began the final climb, the brutal Michaelskreuz, with 19km of the stage remaining, their lead had once again increased and was then close to three minutes.
Ben O’Connor (Jayco-Alula) did much of the early work on the climb, the leading group shedding riders with almost every one of the Australian climber’s pedal strokes. However, a move form Alaphilippe saw only four men together at the top of the climb, with Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kévin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) joining the former world champion on the sodden descent.
There, with 12km to go, Grégoire made his move, almost taking out the TV motorcycle as he did so, and descending like a stone, despite the treacherous conditions. Behind the 22 year-old French climber, Alaphilippe at first forced to do much of the chasing, and while Grégoire seemed to be within touching distance, even that was too far.
RESULTS: TOUR DE SUISSE, STAGE 1, KÜSSNACHT > KUSSNACHT
1. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 20:50:15
2. Kévin Vaquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, at 20 sec
3. Bart Lemmen (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor, all at same time
5. Ben O’Connor (Aus) JAyco-Alula, at 1:07
6. Felix Grosschartner (Aut) UAE Team Emirates
7. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar
8. Lennard Kämner (Ger) Lidl-Trek
9. Rainer Kepplinger (Aut) Bahrain Victorious, all at same time
10. Nicola Conci (Ita) XDS Astana, at 1:26
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE ONE
1. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 20:50:05
2. Kévin Vaquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, at 24 sec
3. Bart Lemmen (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, at 26
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor, at same time
5. Ben O’Connor (Aus) JAyco-Alula, at 1:17
6. Felix Grosschartner (Aut) UAE Team Emirates
7. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar
8. Lennard Kämner (Ger) Lidl-Trek
9. Rainer Kepplinger (Aut) Bahrain Victorious, all at same time
10. Ben Swift (Gbr) INEOS Grenadiers, at 1:32
