Tour de Romandie 2014 - Stage 3

The queen stage of the Tour de Romandie took place today, it was 180.2 kilometres from Le Bouveret to Aigle. There were four big climbs on the day, and it was likely that the man who won the stage would be the favourite to take the title which has traditionally been viewed as a window to the Tour de France. In the last three years, the man who has won in Romandie has won in Paris.

Michael Albasini of Orica-GreenEDGE started the day as race leader, but would be hard pressed to keep the lead agaisnt the likes of Christopher Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and Rui Costa. Despite the mountainous terrain a seven man move went away, it included Jack Bobridge (Belkin), Danilo Wyss (BMC), Tom Veelers (Giant-Shimano), Boris Vallee (Lotto-Belisol), Andrey Grivko (Astana) and Davide Malacarne and Cyril Gautier both of Europcar.

The breakaway's maximum gap was six minutes, but they gradually disintegrated as the race went on. Gautier and Malacarne were the last to be swept up with just under fourty kilometres to go. On the final climb of the day the action really hotted up, and it was the Shark Vincenzo Nibali who attacked first, attempting to drop Christopher Froome.

Chris Froome countered, and for a while Nibali followed until he cracked. Simon Spilak, who wasn't able to follow the initial move, tracked Froome down and joined him at the front of the race. Rigoberto Uran was a noted man who cracked, and Andrew Talansky's chain dropped, meaning he struggled to regain pace. Rafal Majka and Thibaut Pinot both fell at the top of the climb, putting them out of contention.

When Froome and Spilak summitted the climb they had fourty seconds over a group that contained Vincenzo Nibali, Jakob Fuglsang, Benat Inxausti, Matthias Frank and Rui Costa. The group never caught Froome and Spilak, and it was Spilak who won the sprint for the stage ahead of the British Tour champion. The Nibali group came over the line fifty seven seconds down, and were led over the line by Rui Costa.

Chris Froome now trails Spilak who is at the head of the general classification by one second. Rui Costa is the next man down over a minute behind. Make sure you keep it Lanterne Rouge to see who wins the 2014 Tour de Romandie.