Rohan Dennis wins the Tour de Romandie prologue: Daily News
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The Tour de Romandie got underway on Tuesday with a prologue, where a former time trial world champ took a clear win despite the short course of just 4 km.
Read on for the latest from the world of cycling.
Dane Cash
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Dennis wins Tour de Romandie prologue
Rohan Dennis rode to his second victory of 2021 on Tuesday at the Tour de Romandie, taking a clear win in the 4 km prologue.
The short race against the clock took riders on a mostly flat course in Oron, Switzerland. Stefan Bissegger was an early leader with a time of 5:37 on the course before Dennis took to the road about halfway into the stage. The 30-year-old Australian bested Bissegger’s mark by 11 seconds with a time of 5:26, and from there, nobody came particularly close to beating his time.
Dennis’s Ineos Grenadiers teammates Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte came closest, with Thomas taking runner-up honors on the day at nine seconds back and Porte in third, a few fractions of a second slower than Thomas but two seconds faster than fourth-placed Rémi Cavagna.
Tour de Romandie (2.UWT) Oron → Oron
DENNIS Rohan
DENNIS Rohan
DENNIS Rohan
BISSEGGER Stefan
INEOS Grenadiers
Groenewegen will return to racing at the Giro d’Italia
After a nine-month suspension for his role in the crash at the Tour of Poland that left Fabio Jakobsen seriously injured, Dylan Groenewegen will return to racing at the upcoming Giro d’Italia.
Groenewegen’s suspension officially ends on May 7, a day before the start of the Giro. Jumbo-Visma announced Tuesday that Groenewegen will be a part of the team’s Giro squad, taking the place of Chris Harper, who had been expected to start the race but now will not due to an eye condition.
Olympic selection ‘not looking great’ for Froome
Cyclingnews reports that British Olympic road coach Matt Brammeier sees Chris Froome as still being “a long way off” from meriting selection to the British Olympic squad for the Tokyo Games. Nearly two years removed from his crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné, Froome continues to work towards getting back to his old level of form.
“We’ve got four spots and it’s not an easy team to fight your way into,” Brammeier said. “Unfortunately, it’s not looking great for Chris on my behalf anyway.”
Brammeier noted that the riders he is currently “seriously considering” for the four available spots are Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates, Simon Yates, Tao Geoghegan Hart, James Knox, Hugh Carthy, Tom Pidcock, Luke Rowe, and Alex Dowsett.
UCI reveals format for Track Champions League
The UCI has unveiled the format of its new Track Champions League, which it is running in partnership with GCN and Eurosport. The new format will see 36 men and 36 women racing in November and December across six weekends, with 18 men and 18 women competing in the Sprint League and 18 men and 18 women competing in the Endurance League.
Riders will earn points through their results in the various sprint or endurance events that will accumulate over the course of the competition towards declaring a final winner. Riders will qualify through the Track World Championships, which take place in October. According to a statement from organizers, prize money for the men and women at the Track Champions League will be equal.
Coming up …
The Tour de Romandie continues on Wednesday with an intriguing stage 1 that starts in Aigle and then heads into a tricky circuit in and around Martigny. Four visits each to the Produit and Chamoson climbs could whittle away at the pack before a mostly flat finish, where Peter Sagan could be among the favorites for the win.
In case you missed it …
As Iain Treloar writes, the best thing on the Internet today is this ode to trail dogs.
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