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Dorion Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) took his second win of the week on the Tour de Romandie to spherical out the race with one other triumph on a moist day trip in Vernier.
The Frenchman outpaced Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek) and Dion Smith (Intermarché-Wanty), going lengthy to get the leap on his rivals within the diminished bunch end.
After ascending to the race lead on Saturday’s stage 4 to Leysin, Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) secured the general victory to take the primary stage race victory of his profession. The Spaniard beat Bora-Hansgrohe Aleksandr Vlasov and Florian Lipowitz by seven and 9 seconds respectively to seal the win.
The day was all the time more likely to be one determined by the quick males, even with seven ascents of the 1.6km Dardagny climb mendacity in wait on the largely circuit-based last stage.
Assaults flew on the entrance after the break of the day was introduced again inside the ultimate 30km, however issues got here again collectively because the likes of UAE Group Emirates, Lidl-Trek, and Visma-Lease A Bike managed the peloton for the ultimate sprint to the road.
Ultimately, the riders these groups had hoped to arrange have been caught behind as the ultimate bend loomed, and it was as a substitute Godon who launched himself from the entrance to take a largely uncontested win.
Additional again within the 67-man group, Rodríguez crossed the road safely with the general victory and the perfect younger rider prize within the bag. Godon’s win noticed him overhaul Decathlon AG2R teammate Andrea Vendrame for the factors jersey, whereas Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck) got here away with the mountain classification win.
The way it unfolded
The ultimate stage of the 2024 Tour de Romandie would take the riders on a 151km route primarily based on 4 laps of a hilly 35km circuit in Vernier. The principle problem of the day can be the 1.6km, 4% climb of Dardagny, coming thrice in the course of the stage, although nothing more likely to bother the primary GC names – other than potential time bonuses on the prime of the overall classification.
The day started with a powerful breakaway going early as Rémi Cavagna (Movistar) jumped from the flag. He was rapidly caught however was quickly off once more after 20km of racing. The Frenchman was joined within the assault by Darren Rafferty (EF Schooling-EasyPost), Marco Brenner (Tudor), and Alexandre Balmer (Swiss Nationwide Group).
Counter-attacks from Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease A Bike) did not disrupt the transfer, and so the quartet received away up the street with a spot of two minutes.
Behind them, Ineos Grenadiers stored issues on a good leash on behalf of latest GC chief Carlos Rodríguez, whereas Lidl-Trek have been additionally up there working to maintain the time hole at two minutes.
It might be a tough process for the breakaway to remain away to the road with the quick males of the peloton eager to contest the ultimate stage victory of the race, and so it proved because the peloton closed in to underneath 1:30 because the riders hit the ultimate 60km.
Cavagna would not be resigned to the breakaway’s destiny, nonetheless, and sought to push on alone. The ‘TGV from Clermont-Ferrand’ pushed on alone with 46km left to run, leaving his break mates behind as he went seeking a 14th profession victory.
He’d be alone for 15km earlier than Rafferty and Brenner got here again as much as him for the ultimate ascent of Dardagny. There, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) went on the assault from the peloton, inflicting a break up as riders behind sought to close issues down.
The break can be introduced again simply contained in the 30km to go mark, with Cavagna unsurprisingly being awarded the ultimate combativity prize of the race for his efforts. Extra attacking got here quickly after, although, with former race chief Juan Ayuso (UAE Group Emirates) amongst these on the transfer, even when the transfer got here to nought.
The ultimate 20km noticed Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) and Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) on the transfer, although the pair have been unsuccessful of their efforts. Martin and Michael Valgren (EF Schooling-EasyPost) would make strikes inside the ultimate 10km, however with Lidl-Trek taking cost for stage 2 winner Thibau Nys, it will all come all the way down to the ultimate dash end.
The dash to the end was a disorganised one, nonetheless, with Nys and a number of other different key contenders caught too far again to have an effect on issues on the entrance.
Ultimately, it was Godon who had the proper run across the last bend, accelerating away from his rivals to shut out his Tour de Romandie with a second stage victory.
Outcomes
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