Tour de Romandie 2019 – Stage 5 Preview

By David Hunter

Genève 17km ITT

This is not flat! After a gentle opening kilometre, the road rises for the next 3km at 3%, but with some steep ramps included. The road then heads downhill for the next 4km, before 400m at 4%, quickly followed by 760m at 5.3%. That leaves 5km of descending, before hitting the flat and the final 4km.

Weather

Current forecasts say that there could be a shower in the afternoon and a strong northerly wind for the riders to deal with.

Contenders

Primož Roglič – after his win today, he sits with a comfortable gap over his GC rivals, especially as he’s brilliant on his TT bike. This is a very good route for the Slovenian, and he starts as the overwhelming favourite.

Stefan Küng – the Swiss star would also love another stage win. He’s been able to save some energy throughout this race, something that gives him a little edge over some of his rivals. The problem is Roglič, as Küng as poor record against him.

Geraint Thomas – will hope that a strong TT performance can help him to 2nd place on GC. It’s good to see him coming back to form, I’ve missed him! He’s a strong TT rider and will hope to challenge for the podium.

Tony Martin – worked quite hard this week for Roglič, which will have taken some energy out of his legs. The German is still a quality rider, but he doesn’t win too often these days.

Maciej Bodnar – strong and powerful rider, he’ll hope for a good ride but he’s another that doesn’t win very often.

Victor Campenaerts – after crashing in the prologue, I think the Belgian has some unfinished business with this race. After smashing the hour record, he seems to have held his shape and not done too much partying! The little climbs won’t bother him, and he’ll see this as a huge chance to take another world tour win. He’s one of the few riders who knows what it’s like to actually beat Roglič.

Paddy Bevin – this is a good route for him. The Kiwi TT champion has been very close to his first world tour TT win, but close isn’t good enough! He will look at this stage and think this is a good chance to finally land one.

Prediction Time

Sorry to be boring, but it has to be another win for Primož Roglič.

*Overall preview

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David Hunter

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