Tour de Romandie stage 1 favourites | The world champion may have to do it the Pogačar way

The Tour de Romandie is up and running, with Dorian Godon's prologue win setting the tone on Tuesday. Now it is time for the first road stage — and like the rest of the week, it is packed with climbing. Will Tadej Pogačar be hungry for an early statement, or will the breakaway be allowed to play?

The first road stage opens with a local circuit, ridden three times. Each lap includes the short climb of La Rasse — 2.5 kilometres at an average of 8.5% — which is unlikely to cause major damage in itself, but could tempt an early attacker to test the field.

After those three circuits, with 109 kilometres in the legs, the real test arrives. Rather than turning left towards Fully, the race continues straight on to the intermediate sprint in Saxon, then hits the Ovronnaz — a serious climb by any measure. At 8.9 kilometres averaging 9.8%, it demands respect. The final 2.7 kilometres average a punishing 10.4%. After the summit, there are still 35 kilometres to the finish in Martigny, first descending and then flat.

Times
Start: 1:25 p.m.
Finish: around 5:26 p.m.

Conditions on Wednesday in Martigny will be mild. With some sunshine, the temperature could feel close to 26 degrees Celsius, with an ambient temperature of around 20 degrees. A moderate north-easterly wind is not expected to play a significant role.

With Tadej Pogačar on the start line, the key question is always the same: how hungry is he? If he wants his team to set pace on the final climb, Ovronnaz is perfect terrain to land an early blow on the general classification. The fact that the summit still leaves 35 kilometres to the finish should not worry Pogačar — as his lengthy solo efforts have shown, distance is rarely a problem.

If UAE commit, the fascinating secondary battle becomes clear: who among the GC contenders can stay longest? From Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Florian Lipowitz and Primož Roglič are on paper the best climbers after the world champion, with Daniel Felipe Martínez another option.

The INEOS duo of Oscar Onley and Carlos Rodríguez, the Bahrain pair of Lenny Martinez and Antonio Tiberi, the XDS Astana duo of Lorenzo Fortunato and Cristián Rodríguez, as well as Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and young guns Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike) will all be hoping to be in that group.

If Pogačar and UAE decide to hold fire, the door opens wide for the best-climbing breakaway riders. Names to watch include Mauro Schmid and Luke Plapp (both Jayco AlUla), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), UAE Tour revelation Yanis Voisard (Tudor) and Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana).

Top favourite: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates-XRG)

Outsiders: Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (INEOS Grenadiers), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla)

Long shots: Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost)