Gaviria third in thrilling Romandie sprint

Fernando Gaviria showed positive signs of a good comeback from injury with 3rd place on stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie which started and finished in the town of Echallens (168.2km) over a hilly parcours.

Gaviria surged in the final metres of the sprint but just faded slightly at the end as Ethan Hayter (Ineos-Grenadiers) took his second stage win.

Gaviria suffered a flat tyre inside the final 50km but was brought back by his teammates before the final uncategorised ascent which crested at 12km from the line. The Colombian is recently back from a broken collarbone and will take confidence from being to the fore of the racing.

 
Juan Ayuso keeps his place in the general classification hunt in 5th place at 18’’ from race leader Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma), while UAE Team Emirates continue to lead the teams classification.

Gaviria: “I’m really happy with the stage, It was a hard day for me with lots of climbing . I’m feeling good, I did almost everything right and the team worked well but sometime you win and sometimes you lose. After two months without racing third place was good for me. My mind is focused on the race ahead and also on the Giro d’Italia.”

 
Tomorrow stage 3 will start and finish from Valbroye (165km) with another hilly test.

Tour de Romandie Stage 2 results

1.Ethan Hayter (Ineos-Grenadiers) 4:04:55
2.Jon Aberasturi (Trek-Segafredo) s.t
3.Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) s.t

Tour de Romandie general classification after stage 2

1.Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) 8:34:43
2.Felix Grosschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) +14’’
3.Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers) +18’’
5.Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) s.t