Fifth place and matching the world champion — Zingle's Romandie TT exceeds all expectations for Visma

Tuesday at the Tour de Romandie belonged not to Tadej Pogačar but to Dorian Godon. The Frenchman won the prologue. In exactly the same time as the world champion, Axel Zingle finished fifth, delighting his team, Visma | Lease a Bike.

Godon had already been sitting in the hot seat for a while when Zingle — 42nd of 103 riders to start — rolled down the ramp for the 3.2-kilometre effort. The Visma rider was just seven seconds slower than his fellow Frenchman at INEOS, immediately putting a strong result within reach.

There were still fast men to come, including Pogačar himself. The Slovenian world champion clocked exactly the same time as Zingle — in itself a remarkable benchmark for the Visma sprinter. The team had not been counting on a top five.

Director sportif Gaëtan Pons said as much on the team's website after the stage: "It was a good day for us — we really can't complain. It's a pleasant surprise that Axel finishes fifth here. This result creates extra motivation within the team, and that's great to see."

Jørgen Nordhagen was Visma's second best on the day, finishing 35th overall. The Dutch team still has plenty of plans for their young Norwegian leader as the week develops. "The time gaps today have been minimal, so everything is still possible in the general classification. We're looking forward to getting into the climbing," Pons added.

That climbing begins immediately on Wednesday's opening road stage, which finishes with a tough final climb that is likely to shake up the classification significantly. Visma | Lease a Bike will certainly hope that Nordhagen is in the right group when it matters.