Pogačar's prologue debut headlines a quirky Tour de Romandie opener

The spring is over. With Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the first chapter of the 2026 cycling year has closed — and the focus now shifts to the Giro d'Italia. One of the key build-up races for the year's first Grand Tour is the Tour de Romandie. The top favourite is obvious: Tadej Pogačar. But the opener is an unfamiliar test for the Slovenian. IDL Pro Cycling previews the prologue.

The Tour de Romandie and the prologue: a happy marriage. It is one of the few races still keeping the tradition properly alive. The 2026 edition once again opens with an ultra-short time trial, 3.2 kilometres to be precise, around the streets of Villars-sur-Glâne, where the riders will fight for the first leader's jersey.

There aren't many corners packed into those 3,200 metres. After the start on Route de Moncor, the first proper left-hander comes on Route de Préaples after about 600 metres. From there it's almost a kilometre dead straight up to Route de l'Église, where two more left-handers follow. The final 300 metres include a few awkward kinks before the finish on Route du Petit-Moncour.

Flat, however, this prologue is not. The first two kilometres tilt slightly downhill, but from Route du Soleil onwards the road kicks up nastily. That is going to hurt.

Times
Start: 3:28 p.m.
Finish: 5:30 p.m.

For an effort this short and sharp, decent weather is more than welcome. But it is going to rain heavily in Switzerland, with a chance of thunderstorms. The temperature won't be cold at 16 degrees, and there is no wind to speak of.

A prologue is a different beast from a normal time trial, which means the names we'd usually note are different too. Sam Watson and Maikel Zijlaard, who won the previous two Romandie openers, are not on the start line this time. A logical successor would therefore be Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The Portuguese rider was second last year and is a genuine specialist.

Another past prologue winner: Ethan Hayter. The Briton from Soudal Quick-Step won that test at the Tour of Holland. Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) finished third there. Beyond that, there are no real specialists on the line, so we look towards the time triallists more generally. We're curious to see what Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) still has in the tank, for one.

Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) ought to handle this one well too — particularly with the course not too cornered. But the big question is: what can Tadej Pogačar do? The top favourite for the overall classification has not ridden a prologue in his professional career. But he's still Pogačar — write him in, because he has every quality to dominate here as well.

Other outsiders can be found at INEOS Grenadiers (Dorian Godon), Lidl-Trek (Albert Withen Philipsen), Groupama-FDJ (Rémi Cavagna), EF Education-EasyPost (Michael Leonard), Bahrain Victorious (Antonio Tiberi) and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe (Florian Lipowitz). Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) also produced a strong prologue here last year.

Top favorites: Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step)
Outsiders: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)
Long shots: Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ), Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost), Antonio Tiberi, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)