Not Pogačar but Dorian Godon wins the opening prologue at the Tour de Romandie

Dorian Godon has won the prologue at the Tour de Romandie. The Frenchman started early and held the hot seat for a long time. All eyes were eventually on Tadej Pogačar — but the Slovenian could not match the Frenchman's time. Ivo Oliveira, as in 2025, finished second.

The Tour de Romandie opened on Tuesday in its traditional fashion with a prologue. The start list is strong this year, with top riders including Florian Lipowitz, Primož Roglič (both Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Oscar Onley (INEOS Grenadiers). And then, of course, there was the small matter of one Tadej Pogačar.

The world champion had won four of the five races he entered this year, and had already made clear he was ready to attack on any stage. Tuesday's 3.2-kilometre prologue offered the first opportunity — its uphill final kilometre playing to Pogačar's strengths on paper.

Davide Formolo (Movistar) was first off the startpodium at 15:28, but the rider drawing most attention early on was Rémi Cavagna. The French time trial specialist put down the first benchmark time, as expected.

He could not settle comfortably on the hot seat, though. Primož Roglič, Oscar Onley and Ivo Oliveira all lined up ready to beat him — and Roglič and Oliveira did exactly that. Oliveira posted a time two seconds faster than Roglič, with Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) coming close but conceding one second to the Portuguese rider.

The field kept coming. Lipowitz, Jakob Söderqvist and Dorian Godon all had their efforts still to come. Godon was the pick of them — he went more than six seconds clear of Oliveira, setting a time that looked formidable from the moment he crossed the line.

Söderqvist matched Oliveira's time exactly, while Lipowitz posted a solid ride, one second behind his Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe teammate Roglič.

A lull followed. Albert Withen Philipsen and Axel Zingle put in respectable rides for sixth and seventh respectively, but neither came close to threatening Godon. The race now waited for Pogačar.

In the meantime, nobody came within touching distance of the INEOS Grenadiers man. Felix Großschartner posted a decent eleventh time, but all attention was fixed on his teammate's great rival. The four-time Tour winner, aboard his brand new Colnago TT2, was expected to deliver the decisive blow in the fight for the overall classification.

It was not to be. Pogačar came up seven seconds short and finished fifth. Godon takes the prologue win ahead of Oliveira in second, repeating his position from last year. The day's big loser is Onley, who surrenders half a minute to his rivals before the race has properly begun.