Tour de Romandie 2014 – Conclusions
By David Hunter
Michal Kwiatkowski deserves a rest! After a wonderful start to the season, including doing well in the Ardennes, the young Pole took a brilliant victory in the prologue. As I said in my preview he wouldn’t compete for the GC, losing lots of time in stage 3, before withdrawing from the race. Enjoy the rest Michal, you’ve earned it.
Michael Albasini continued the Orica GreenEdge style of focusing on particular races and winning. 2 sprint victories and then a most impressive win on stage 4. Instead of waiting for another sprint, he went in the break and won the stage the hard way. A brilliant week for Albasini and Orica.
TJ Van Garderen had a disaster of a week. He crashed in the prologue and abandoned a few days later. Not the best way to prepare for the Tour. Fellow American, Andrew Talansky, didn’t stay with the main riders on the Queen stage and was poor in the TT. Questions will be asked if these 2 riders can cope at the Tour de France.
JC Peraud is another rider in need of a break. A great season so far but this was one race too many.
Rigoberto Uran didn’t seriously push himself on the Queen stage. This close to the Giro, it’s not a good idea to go into the red. He will be pleased with his TT performance and he has every chance of peaking in the 3rd week of the Giro.
Mathias Frank was disappointed to finish 4th but he should be proud of himself. FInally a team leader, he is looking like a top rider. Next stop is the Tour de Suisse.
Depsite riding with a damaged shoulder, Rui Costa was outstanding. His form has been solid this season and he will be full of confidence for the middle of the season.
Simon Spilak again demonstrated that he can climb with the best in the world, but we still don’t know if he can handle a 3 week race. One thing we do know is that he is one of the best in week long stage races.
It was all going well for Vincenzo Nibali. A daring attack on stage 1 and then he attacked at the foot of the final climb on stage 3. The only problem was that Chris Froome responded with ease and then dropped him. A poor TT left the Italian on 5th, a bad result for him.
Chris Froome is back winning races! The worry for the other riders is that I don’t think he’s back to his best… yet. He managed with very few teammates and this needs to be sorted if Froome wants to challenge Contador in the Tour. We’re certainly in for a treat come July.
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