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2015 Tour de Romandie
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2015 Tour de Romandie
The 2015 Tour de Romandie was the 69th edition of the Tour de Romandie stage race. It took place from 28 April to 3 May and was the fourteenth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race took place around the Romandy region of Switzerland, starting in Lac de Joux and finishing in Lausanne. The race included six stages, with a team time trial at the beginning and an individual time trial at the end with four hilly or mountainous stages in between. The queen stage was the fifth stage, which finished on the climb above Champex.
The defending champion was Chris Froome (Team Sky), who won both the 2013 and 2014 editions. The race was won by Ilnur Zakarin of Team Katusha.
The Tour de Romandie was part of the UCI World Tour, which meant that the 17 UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to send a team. The race organisers also invited UCI Professional Continental team Team Europcar as a wildcard, to make a peloton of 18 teams. Each team entered eight riders (the maximum permitted), so 144 riders started the first stage.
UCI WorldTeams
UCI Professional Continental teams
The race included six stages over six days. The first stage was a 19.2-kilometre (11.9-mile) team time trial; this was a change from recent editions of the Tour de Romandie, which started with a prologue individual time trial. The team time trial was important both for its role in the general classification and also because the teams were using it as preparation for a similar stage in the Tour de France. Stages 2, 3 and 4 were all hilly but were expected to end in sprints. The final two stages were expected to be the decisive ones in the general classification: the fifth stage included several climbs and a summit finish at Champex and the sixth stage was a 17.3-kilometre (10.7-mile) individual time trial around Lausanne.
The principal favourite for the race was Chris Froome (Team Sky). Froome was the defending champion, having won both the 2013 and 2014 editions. Sky had also won in 2012 with Bradley Wiggins. Froome's form, however, was uncertain. He had shown good form early in the season by beating Alberto Contador at the Vuelta a Andalucía, but afterwards fell ill. He withdrew from Tirreno–Adriatico, then performed poorly in the Volta a Catalunya. He returned to racing the week before the Tour de Romandie in La Flèche Wallonne, but crashed towards the end of the race. Although he was able to finish the race, Froome had lost some skin in the crash. L'Équipe described him as "in need of reassurance" following his "chaotic start to the season".
The other principal favourites ahead of the race were Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), who had won Tirreno–Adriatico earlier in the season, and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), the reigning Tour de France champion. Quintana had recently finished in fourth place in the Tour of the Basque Country and was seen as a particular threat in the mountains. Nibali, meanwhile, had ridden aggressively in the Ardennes classics but had not won a race since the previous July; L'Équipe described him as "in search of a convincing result in 2015". Other favourites included Nibali's teammate Jakob Fuglsang, Simon Špilak (Team Katusha), Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step), Rui Costa (Lampre–Merida), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Simon Yates (Orica–GreenEDGE) and Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling).
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2015 Tour de Romandie
The 2015 Tour de Romandie was the 69th edition of the Tour de Romandie stage race. It took place from 28 April to 3 May and was the fourteenth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race took place around the Romandy region of Switzerland, starting in Lac de Joux and finishing in Lausanne. The race included six stages, with a team time trial at the beginning and an individual time trial at the end with four hilly or mountainous stages in between. The queen stage was the fifth stage, which finished on the climb above Champex.
The defending champion was Chris Froome (Team Sky), who won both the 2013 and 2014 editions. The race was won by Ilnur Zakarin of Team Katusha.
The Tour de Romandie was part of the UCI World Tour, which meant that the 17 UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to send a team. The race organisers also invited UCI Professional Continental team Team Europcar as a wildcard, to make a peloton of 18 teams. Each team entered eight riders (the maximum permitted), so 144 riders started the first stage.
UCI WorldTeams
UCI Professional Continental teams
The race included six stages over six days. The first stage was a 19.2-kilometre (11.9-mile) team time trial; this was a change from recent editions of the Tour de Romandie, which started with a prologue individual time trial. The team time trial was important both for its role in the general classification and also because the teams were using it as preparation for a similar stage in the Tour de France. Stages 2, 3 and 4 were all hilly but were expected to end in sprints. The final two stages were expected to be the decisive ones in the general classification: the fifth stage included several climbs and a summit finish at Champex and the sixth stage was a 17.3-kilometre (10.7-mile) individual time trial around Lausanne.
The principal favourite for the race was Chris Froome (Team Sky). Froome was the defending champion, having won both the 2013 and 2014 editions. Sky had also won in 2012 with Bradley Wiggins. Froome's form, however, was uncertain. He had shown good form early in the season by beating Alberto Contador at the Vuelta a Andalucía, but afterwards fell ill. He withdrew from Tirreno–Adriatico, then performed poorly in the Volta a Catalunya. He returned to racing the week before the Tour de Romandie in La Flèche Wallonne, but crashed towards the end of the race. Although he was able to finish the race, Froome had lost some skin in the crash. L'Équipe described him as "in need of reassurance" following his "chaotic start to the season".
The other principal favourites ahead of the race were Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), who had won Tirreno–Adriatico earlier in the season, and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), the reigning Tour de France champion. Quintana had recently finished in fourth place in the Tour of the Basque Country and was seen as a particular threat in the mountains. Nibali, meanwhile, had ridden aggressively in the Ardennes classics but had not won a race since the previous July; L'Équipe described him as "in search of a convincing result in 2015". Other favourites included Nibali's teammate Jakob Fuglsang, Simon Špilak (Team Katusha), Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step), Rui Costa (Lampre–Merida), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Simon Yates (Orica–GreenEDGE) and Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling).