Tour de Romandie 2024 – GC Preview
One of the few races that indicate how well people tend to climb in the Giro d’Italia with the Tour of the Alps.
Prologue
A very technical prologue. It will create some time gaps but not large ones.

Stage 1
We should see a sprint the following day.

Stage 2
The first mountain top finish. Les Marécottes is an uneven climb, meaning that the last 2000m are 8%. We should see minor time gaps in general, yet the winner will also take home bonus seconds.

Stage 3
This is a hilly time trial. It is actually better for some GC riders as they will lose less time. The time trial has two long plateaus, here you must be certain to power through and therefore not go too deep on the hills.

Stage 4
The toughest stage this edition. I’m not sold this will be as selective as some people hope, Leysin isn’t the hardest climb in the world. 15 km at 5.9% is not a lot, and it looks like a reduced GC sprint. After the switchback with 5200m left, we should see the GC riders test each other. Here we have a 2750m at 8.4% before the final 2300m at 4.4%.

Stage 5
A sprint in Vernier

Weather
It looks like a cold race but without rain. The sun may also visit a few of the stages. Below is next week in Romandie.

Contenders
I think the long time trial and the stage to Leysin are the two most vital stages. Following is the prologue and the stage to Les Marécottes.
Ayuso – He has been one of the best riders in the first months of racing and nothing indicates he is slowing down. I think he is the better shout for UAE, as I doubt A. Yates has recovered.
A. Yates – still recovering and reigning champion here. He has said that he has improved since Il Giro d’Abruzzo, the question is has he improved enough? I doubt it.
Plapp – my man for Jayco. This is mainly due to the amount of time trialing in this race, plus he has the Giro d’Italia just around the corner. He should be near his very best.
Bernal – INEOS bring a very strong team here. I think Bernal can fight for a top-5 here. The time trial will be an issue for him but he is in fantastic shape.
C. Rodriguez – if you saw stage 6 of Basque Country, you know how well he is climbing. The TT will cost him but he is one of the better climbers here.
Carapaz – a poor Spring looks to end well. He looked very good in both Amstel and Liege. I think he certainly can fight for the stage wins on the two days with mountains, but we will have to see how well he goes against the clock.
Lutsenko – he will likely fight for a top-10.
Who will win?
Ayuso will stay the champion in Romandie.