Finally, we come to the last prestigious World Tour race of the Spring, the Tour de Romandie. After this comes May and the first Grand Tour of the Summer: the Giro d’Italia. This last weeklong World Tour stage race serves as a final tune-up opportunity for many who shall be the top contenders for this Giro race. And yet many top contenders come here too to gage form and hone General Classification (GC) race-craft for the Tour de France to come later in July. For those doing the Giro, this is no light last test to unwind the legs. O! How serious business the Tour de Romandie surely is. Romandie, the most Eastern French-speaking part of Switzerland. It is the region of Switzerland closest to that iconic and idealized Lake Geneva. Yes, yes, you know of course what I will point out next: Switzerland is well known for its picturesque mountain vistas. And like any good cycling race, of course, the route enters in and traverses these mountain passes of most proper Alps. Usually with a Prologue or Team Time Trial, one or two sprint stages, always at least two high mountain days, and usually a proper time trial to end the race as well: this usually proves to be a balanced GC test. But that is not what makes this a last brutal preparation race. What does you ask? How often does a non-skier plan vacations to a mountain range in Spring? Never? And why is that? Because the weather is O! so terrible.
I must say, I think the Tour de Romandie takes the cake for the race where a rider is most likely without fail each year to need a rain jacket and knee-warmers. The over-under is typically set at 2.5 days for being soaked-to-the-bone wet and chilled, and all shall lose feeling in their fingers for at least one multi-hour stretch no matter how cutting-edge their gloves are. This race is brutal, this race is not for the faint of heart. This is a race where a cyclist compiles many war-stories to tell the grandkids around a cozy fireplace at Christmastime three decades later. This is a race where the local Swissmen ride with twice their usually ferocity. It is a race where a lucky up-and-coming youngster might find himself in a lone breakaway and he rides to the line holding all off behind and thus makes a name for himself—usually that happens on one of the torrential downpour days. Yes, yes, this is a race where hardmen can go head-to-head to prove who is the toughest of all. Truly, I have no idea at its inception why they thought holding a race in Springtime Switzerland was ever a good idea. But for its whole history it has been held either in early May or this late April slot.
Its creation came about in 1947 surely with renewed hope as Europe began putting away the horrible memories of the Second World War. A large chunk of the World Tour races can date back their origins to this early postwar period, but one that is older is Switzerland’s other World Tour stage race: the Tour de Suisse (“Tour of Switzerland”) held each June a fortnight before the Tour de France. The Tour de Suisse was created in the 1930s and can be enjoyed by the whole country, but apparently a decade later the French-speaking people of Romandie felt the need to have their very own special race. In the context of cycling history, Romandie is an extremely treasured region: for it holds the honor to house the Union Cycliste Internationale (the “UCI,” cycling’s governing body) headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland. Every year the race makes a point to ride past it on one of its stages. But I daresay, there is a more romantic ancient piece of cycling history from this region that warms the heart more than the bureaucratic headquarters of the cycling world. In my estimation, Romandie can at least lay a claim for hosting the oldest bike race in the world (a title commonly agreed upon to be held by Liege-Bastogne-Liege).
All the way back in 1879, these citizens of Romandie organized the first edition of the Tour du Lac Leman: a one-day some 170km race around Lake Geneva. The race was held most years all the way up until the mid-1950s. Since then it has been basically defunct, and not at all a big objective on the calendar; it is for this reason that Liege though first run in 1892 but still consistently for most years since can claim to be the oldest race on the calendar. But O! how I would love to see this Tour du Lac Leman brought back! Either have it take the closest perimeter route around the Lake and it can simply be a Sprinters’ Classic (I deem they are in need of more again), or even send it on a long-windy adventure in the mountains surrounding this beautiful lake. Since the Tour of Romandie starts on the Tuesday and finishes on the next Sunday, why not put it on the Saturday or Sunday before? On the Saturday, it would not clash with Liege, were the Ardennes Classics to all find a better home in the cycling summer post-Tour, on the Sunday would be open begging for a great Classic. All would tune in just for the beautiful Lake Geneva scenery, and as I said the Sprinters’ are losing all their big Classics, this could be given again to put them back on the map.
Ah! Yes, Romandie, Romandie, truly you are a diamond in the rough of cycling history. Your cycling traditions are ancient, still you wield political might, but O! how brutal is your race and alas! always overshadowed by your big brother the Tour de Suisse. Despite its little brother Swiss status, the Tour de Romandie has been won by so many of the biggest names since its inception: Kubler, Bartali, Koblet, Merckx, Gimondi, Thevenet, Zoetemelk, Saronni, Hinault, Roche, Froome, and Roglic. As stated, despite the brutal weather conditions of late April, it is great final preparation for the Giro, or a check point in progression for the Tour to come. And though it is not as flashy or eye-catching as many of the other World Tour stage races, it still provides another great week of racing in itself: compelling drama and enthralling viewing all week. O! O! How wrong it would be to ever underestimate this Tour de Romandie.
Cycling Odysseys 