Tour de Romandie 2022 – Prologue
Time for the second prologue of the WT calendar, this time in Lausanne. There are some long straights, and the airport section seems to be the most technical. The hills are not hard enough to purely determine the outcome of the stage. Compared to the prologue in Tour de la Provence, this one is more hilly and shorter. If we compare it to the prologue from Tour de Romandie 2021, it is flatter but 1.3 km longer.
Weather
The first rider is down the ramp at 15:00, and they have estimated the course to take roughly seven minutes. I think a few riders can beat that. It will be raining in the morning and not very windy. It means the early riders might have less wind but they might race on wet roads. I think the optimal time is 16:00 or later but the wind will not play a big factor.
Contenders
Dennis starts as the favorite and that is understandable. He is starting late which is smart too. He is good in prologues, winning here last year with ‘9 seconds. He will be tough to beat.
Cavagna is the man to do it. I do not think the length is very good for him, nor the constant corners. He should still be fighting for the podium. He is starting late, which is good for him.
INEOS: Plapp, G and Hayter. I do not know how good Plapp is in a short TT, G is in good shape but Dennis is better. Hayter has been very good against the clock – a podium should be within reach.
Bevin is in very fine form. The distance is not optimal for him, but he will give his best shot at the podium.
Cattaneo has become a good time trialist. On the podium last year in a longer TT, he will aim for the same tomorrow but likely finish in the top-10.
Vlasov – a top 10 is very likely.
Sobrero – another good top-10 candidate.
Izagirre – has had some good prologues through the years, we will have to see how his body has responded to the crash in LBL.
McNulty – we will see how the crash has affected him. I think he is better on longer routes. He is starting very early so he has a higher chance of wet roads.
Who will win?
A win for Dennis.