Tour de Romandie 2014 - Stage 1

The Tour de Romandie 2014 had its first road stage today, which was shortened due to bad weather. The stage was therefore only 88.6 kilometres from Brigerbad to Sion. The Simplonpass was removed completely meaning it was a much flatter run in, giving the big sprinter in the race Marcel Kittel hope of an unlikely stage win.

Michal Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma-Quickstep went into the stage as race leader, but with a such a small lead from the prologue he would have to be vigilant if any attacks were made. A breakaway tried their hand, obviously buoyed by the short amount of racing. The Belgian Boris Vallee of Lotto-Belisol was joined by two Swiss riders - Reto Hollenstein of IAM Cycling and Silvan Dillier of BMC Racing.

The break was well contained by the peloton for most of the day, and more attacks flurried out in an attempt to get King of the Mountains points. Johan Tschopp of IAM Cycling was challenged by Thibaut Pinot of FDJ.fr, but managed to take the points. After getting over the mountain of the day, Marcel Kittel must have harboured hopes of winning the race, but he was soon distanced.

Tejay van Garderen was also seen off the back, and on a descent near the finish Vincenzo Nibali decided to put in an attack. He soon built up a lead of twenty five seconds, and with seven kilometres to go it looked like he could be close to taking the win. However, Omega Pharma-Quickstep put in some good work, stringing out the peloton and bringing back the Sicilian.

Thomas Voeckler of Europcar put in a late attack that was strong, but the peloton overhauled the Frenchman and Orica-GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini came over the top and sprinted for the win. He finished ahead of Jesus Herrada of Movistar Team, and now sits just five seconds behind Michal Kwiatkowski ahead of stage two, which will hopefully not be delayed by weather.