The Prologue was dominated by the Ineos Grenadiers: Rohan Dennis, Geraint Thomas, and Richie Porte swept the podium—even World Champion Time-Trialist Grenadier teammate Filipo “Top” Ganna could not ride amongst them. The Rockstar Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) took a solid sprint win on Stage 1. After finishing second to Sagan the day before, Sonny Colbrelli finished off the job for his Bahrain-Victorious team on Stage 2. And it had been threatening all week, but finally the torrential rains really started to pour on Stage 3—all the bounteous green beauty of Switzerland must come from somewhere.
It was a long day, a brutal day. It takes a certain type of man to perform well in such conditions. The breakaway was dominated by Swissmen, but even they had their fair share of troubles on home roads. Most notably, in the Swiss Champion’s Jersey with its White Cross and Red Background, Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) slid out on one of the many treacherous white lines while cornering one of the downhill turns. From the apex of the turn he slid across the road at the same speed he was going on his bicycle: truly, in crashes like these it looks as if the riders are slipping out on ice. He slid all the way into a padded traffic sign; should the padding not have been there for the race, surely he would have wrapped himself up and racked his body badly on the pole. But Stefan Kung is one of these title hardmen, within seconds he bounced right up walking around and checking over his body. Perhaps, had he not crashed he could have gone on to win the day, instead that honor and duty would fall upon someone else’s shoulders. Kung’s late breakaway escapee was caught within 10 km of the line, and to many people’s surprise it was Movistar’s Marc Soler who solo counterattacked. It was one of those classic perfect attacks where none reacted right away so that Soler got a solid few seconds’ gap, and that was all he needed. Soler went full gas. He adeptly took the proper risks in the wet, for he rode away not just for the stage win, but for the Leader’s Jersey as well. It was impressive to see this Southern Catalan ride so well in the wet and rain where so many Spaniards have wilted before. It was exciting as well, for in one week’s time Soler starts his Giro campaign for Movistar in Turin. Finally after an early season of weeklong race after weeklong race where Soler quite frankly looked very bad and dropped far too early on all the mountains, finally it seems he is coming onto good form at the perfect time. Soler is 27-years-old, but his progression has stalled out in the last few years. Movistar is starving for its next superstar for their talisman Alejandro Valverde is retiring soon. On this Stage 3, Marc Soler proved he is ready to launch his bid for Giro glory. It was a classic day of brutal conditions that sap all energy reserves and the spirit of all the riders, it was classic day at the Tour de Romandie. And yet, as is so surprisingly often the case: the next day’s stage, Stage 4, was even worse.
Yes, yes, to ride the hilly Stage 3 in the extreme wet and rain surely does take it out of the riders; it was an effort that leaves them tired for the next week, because they dug so deep. And that of course is the beauty of cycling stage races: what you can do on one day is test enough, but the citizens of Romandie and the cycling world wish to see what these riders can do six days in a row. Give us the same harsh conditions of Stage 3, but now let’s do some proper high mountains including a finish to ski resort 2000m above sea level. The day before, second place on Stage 3 behind the solo escapee Soler was EF’s Magnus Cort from a reduced bunch, including both Sagan and Colbrelli and the top GC men. Thus, when all turned on the livestream of Stage 4, it was shocking to see Magnus Cort at the front of affairs with a 5-minute lead in the breakaway on this mountain stage. What legs of iron he must have had to get second place from a sprint the day before in the went and rain, and then come back the next day for long-range breakaway heroics. But fair golden-haired-and-mustached Magnus is a Dane, and many from this greatest generation of Danish cyclists have shown us that none should be underestimate—especially in such brutal conditions. Yes, Magnus Cort proved his mettle once again, for on the climbs he rode all his breakaway companions off his wheel. There was an improperly executed neutralized descent of the breakaway and peloton after the penultimate climb and before the summit finish to the Thyon 2000 ski resort. Magnus and his breakaway companions seemed to have still taken the descent faster and started the final climb with an extra two minutes. With that controversial extra advantage, it really did look like Magnus Cort could potentially pull this off and steal the stage. O! But how brutal was that final climb: a full 20km with a 7% average gradient. Well before that point, Cort and many of the rest of the riders were having trouble with their dexterity. Frozen fingers and bulky gloves were a factor this day: hindering grabbing food from the pockets and even switching gears and handling the bike properly. Magnus managed to take down a last gel halfway up the final climb, but his fingers were even too frozen to put the wrapper back in his pocket; to avoid the littering penalty he had to shove the wrapper to driver of the camera bike. Yes, it was one of those days where the cameramen had to wipe clear the droplets from the lenses every two minutes. The scenes being shown did not so much seem to be the now standard HD pictures, but instead a fluid and live-moving water-color painting. Cort’s bright pink EF jersey blended at the edges straight into the black tarmac, the green and brown trees and foilage, and the light grey misty skies above. Had the climb only been some 15km, perhaps Magnus Cort would have played a blinder, but alas! it was 20km. Cort had put himself in the position he needed to be to win, he had done all he could, but he was spent. He was laboring on the bike, he was bonking—not least because of the energy required to stave off the harsh elements all around him. Inside the last 5km, the other hardmen who had been chasing him down all day finally caught this daring Dane: Magnus Cort the Bornholm Blonde.
As was already alluded to, the descent before this final 20km climb had been neutralized, but it seemed that turned to the breakaway’s advantage for that gave them extra time up the climb. There were strange suspicions a foot that the times up the climb would be used to decide the winner, not who crossed the line first. To make matters more confusing, the devices tracking the gap between the breakaway and the peloton of favorites behind ended up going haywire for most of the final climb. Thus it was a surprise with 4.3km to go when Michael Woods (Isreal Start-Up Nation) put his Ardennes flying-form to good use and attacked his rival GC favorites, and then suddenly caught Cort the Bornholm Blonde who was thought to have still been at least a minute ahead up the road. BikeExchange’s Lucas Hamilton and AG2R’s Ben O’Connor—both young promising Australian Grand Tour talents—rode with Woods for a while, but both fell away. Woods caught Magnus Cort and put an end to the neutralization controversy for now surely the GC men would win this day with no breakaways interfering. Michael Woods the Canadian who was flying in La Fleche and Liege just a few days ago was showing off his Northern heritage here in cold Romandie. Yes, the cold did not seem to be affecting him much, it seemed all the dexterity was there and enough energy to carry this momentum to the line. O! Truly, he said of his Liege performance, he was on the form of his life for this year’s Ardennes campaign. He did not turn up an Ardennes victory; but surely a stage or even the leader’s jersey in Romandie would make a great constellation prize, and the flying form was clearly still there. He flew and flew out of the saddle up this Thyon climb. O! But by this point there was un-intelligible chaos behind, and only one man was rising above it to really race after Woods ahead.
All of sudden behind, Marc Soler wearing a Movistar jacket over the Yellow leader’s jersey was on the front of a very select group of favorites seeming to ride in damage control mode. Had another big GC favorite attacked, and the cameras hadn’t caught it? Indeed, one mighty one had. Yes, yes, a mighty one, and one of the hardest men of the peloton by all accounts. He was used to the harsh wet conditions that are so typical of the green British Isles. He has had a fair-share of tough races in his day. In 2013, on the opening stage of the Tour de France he crashed heavily and fractured his pelvis. He literally could not climb onto his bike unsupported…but he still could ride; he rode that entire Tour with a fractured pelvis. Yes, yes, he is a man known to crash not often because of bad bike handling, but from the sheerest rotten luck: knocked by a rider into a telephone pole on a descent at the 2015 Tour, crashed out of the 2017 Giro when hit by a motorcycle, even at the 2020 October Giro in Sicily he slipped on a rogue water-bottle in the neutral zone and fractured his pelvis again. He rode that whole stage extremely injured, but still only lost ten minutes riding up the lord of all Sicilian climbs, the mighty Mt. Etna, before abandoning the race. Yes, just from these famous low-points you know of whom I speak: the Welshman, 2018 Tour de France champion, Geraint Thomas—the heart and soul of the Ineos Grenadiers. Since that 2018 Tour, he has not won a race: in the shadow of Ineos Tour-winning teammate Egan Bernal in 2019, and an injury-plagued 2020 are the explanations. But here in Romandie, in the wet and cold, and in the high altitude, he was flying once more. Thomas’ big appointment is a rendezvous with the Tour once more in July, but here he was showing the form is coming along extremely well. Yes, yes, a time or two, Geraint has been compared to Thomas the Tank Engine chugging up the hills. Ah! But on this day Thomas seemed an even more powerful and bigger steam engine than Thomas the tiny Tank.
Geraint Thomas, the greatest cyclist the Welsh have ever produced, hawked down Michael Woods with 2.2km to go. Thomas then tried to blow right around Woods, but it would be tougher than that; Woods stayed in Thomas’ wheel. Thomas the Bigger Tank Engine did all the pacing: metronomic, relentless; distancing all rivals besides Woods and just out of range the scrappy Ben O’Connor daring enough to claw his way back into contention. These two riders, and even Ben O’Connor behind were now shooting up the General Classification. The climb at no point ever let up, it was a proper fight all the way to the finish, but with one kilometer remaining all knew it would be a two-man sprint at the line. Thomas had time in hand to take the leader’s jersey ahead of Woods whether he won this sprint or not, he would need only to finish next to him. But as stated, Geraint Thomas has not won a race since the 2018 Tour, surely he would love to win this brutal Romandie Queen Stage! With 200m to go, Woods came around Thomas to sprint for victory. But Geraint Thomas did not lay down without a fight. With 150m to go, they made a 180 degree turn on the final switchback, Thomas actually accelerated to the front once more. The final 100m was a complete uphill drag, and the legs were screaming after such a long finishing climb and hard day of racing. With 50m to go it was neck-and-neck! Woods was already standing up smashing his pedals towards the line; Thomas stood up as well—
O! heartbreak! Thomas lost control of the bike and crashed hard on his shoulder. Woods rode to the line in victory. So dazed, so fatigued from the effort and now the crash, it took Thomas an extra 22 seconds to finish. Thus Mike Woods won not only the stage, but went into the race leader’s jersey as well. Upon reviewing the replays, clearly as Thomas began to stand up in his seat for the very last effort to the line: he raised his right hand off the handlebars completely and lost control of the bike. Truly, consider how hard it is for anyone to sprint out of the saddle with only one hand on the handlebars. Thomas faced the press after the stage despite or because of the incident. He took it all in stride and like the hardman he was, just rolling with it and poking fun at himself. Thomas said he had lost so much feeling in his hands by that final 50m that when he took his hand off the bars, he thought he was switching into a bigger gear. O! O! Talk about a classic rotten luck Thomas mistake. Talk about classic Romandie weather. Thomas had garnered some physical bruises and emotional bruises of embarrassment on that stage. O! But I told you, he is one of the hardest of hardmen.
The final day was a Time Trial, Thomas’ bread-and-butter ever since he was a youngster on the track. Not only did Thomas overturn Michael Wood’s GC lead—for Woods is not a notable time-trialist—he almost won the stage outright. Thus it was from the jaws of embarrassment, Geraint Thomas snatched a great victory and won this war of the hardmen; his first win since his 2018 Tour. His big focus is the 2021 Tour this year, and he is now on great progression to have a sterling tilt at it, and give some certain Slovenians some trouble.
