Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana headline strong Tour de Romandie line-up (start list)
The general classification at the Tour de Romandie is set to be hard fought with several Grand Tour contenders lining up
Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) step up their Tour de France preparations at the Tour de Romandie this week as a number of Grand Tour favourites line up for the Swiss race.
Quintana returns for his third European stage race of the year, having won the Volta a Catalunya and finished third at both the Tour de San Luis and Tour of the Basque Country.
Froome, a two-time winner of this race, leads a strong Sky team, featuring Geraint Thomas, Michal Kwiatkowski and Ian Stannard.
The Brit finished third here last year after a lacklustre final time trial, which saw Katusha duo Ilnur Zakarin and Simon Spilak take the top steps on the podium.
Zakarin returns to defend his title with an eye on honing his form for next month's Giro d'Italia, while Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) will also have the same target.
Check out the Giro d'Italia 2016 route
Dumoulin will be a favourite for the 4km prologue on Tuesday and the 15km time trial on stage three, with Bob Jungels (Etixx-Quick Step) and Jerome Coppel (FDJ) also targeting stage wins.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
The general classification battle will be hard fought, with Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), Tejay van Garderen, Richie Porte (both BMC), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale), Wilko Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Ryder Hesjedal (Trek-Segafredo) likely to be among the contenders.
The sprinters will also have their chances on stages one and five, with Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quick Step) and Ben Swift (Team Sky) the favourites for the wins.
Start list
Katusha
1 Špilak, Simon
2 Belkov, Maxim
3 Kochetkov, Pavel
4 Lagutin, Sergey
5 Silin, Egor
6 Taaramäe, Rein
7 Vorobyev, Anton
8 Zakarin, Ilnur
Tinkoff
11 Majka, Rafał
12 Blythe, Adam
13 Boaro, Manuele
14 Hernández, Jesús
15 Kišerlovski, Robert
16 Poljanski, Pawel
17 Rovny, Ivan
18 Trofimov, Yuri
Team Sky
21 Froome, Christopher
22 Kwiatkowski, Michal
23 Nieve, Mikel
24 Peters, Alex
25 Puccio, Salvatore
26 Stannard, Ian
27 Swift, Ben
28 Thomas, Geraint
BMC Racing
31 Porte, Richie
32 Bohli, Tom
33 Bookwalter, Brent
34 Caruso, Damiano
35 Moinard, Amaël
36 van Garderen, Tejay
37 Velits, Peter
38 Wyss, Danilo
Etixx - Quick Step
41 Kittel, Marcel
42 Bouet, Maxime
43 Jungels, Bob
44 Martinelli, Davide
45 Sabatini, Fabio
46 Velits, Martin
47 Verona, Carlos
48 Wiśniowski, Łukasz
Movistar Team
51 Quintana, Nairo
52 Amador, Andrey
53 Anacona, Winner
54 Herrada, Jesús
55 Izagirre, Gorka
56 Izagirre, Ion
57 Pedrero, Antonio
58 Rojas, José Joaquín
Orica-GreenEdge
61 Albasini, Michael
62 Gerrans, Simon
63 Haig, Jack
64 Hepburn, Michael
65 Howson, Damien
66 Impey, Daryl
67 Keukeleire, Jens
68 Meier, Christian
FDJ
71 Pinot, Thibaut
72 Bonnet, William
73 Elissonde, Kenny
74 Geniez, Alexandre
75 Morabito, Steve
76 Reichenbach, Sebastien
77 Roux, Anthony
78 Roy, Jérémy
Trek - Segafredo
81 Mollema, Bauke
82 Arredondo, Julián David
83 Beppu, Fumiyuki
84 Bernard, Julien
85 Bobridge, Jack
86 Bonifazio, Niccolo
87 Hesjedal, Ryder
88 Stetina, Peter
LottoNL - Jumbo
91 Kelderman, Wilco
92 Campenaerts, Victor
93 Hofland, Moreno
94 Keizer, Martijn
95 Lammertink, Steven
96 van Emden, Jos
97 van Winden, Dennis
98 Vermeulen, Alexey
Lotto-Soudal
101 Monfort, Maxime
102 Armée, Sander
103 De Clercq, Bart
104 de Gendt, Thomas
105 Marczynski, Tomasz
106 Valls, Rafael
107 Van der Sande, Tosh
108 Vervaeke, Louis
Lampre - Merida
111 Costa, Rui
112 Bono, Matteo
113 Cimolai, Davide
114 Costa, Mário
115 Grmay, Tsgabu
116 Meintjes, Louis
117 Mohoric, Matej
118 Polanc, Jan
Cannondale
121 Uran, Rigoberto
122 Brown, Nathan
123 Dombrowski, Joe
124 Formolo, Davide
125 Moser, Moreno
126 Navardauskas, Ramunas
127 Rolland, Pierre
128 Talansky, Andrew
IAM Cycling
131 Frank, Mathias
132 Coppel, Jérome
133 Devenyns, Dries
134 Hollenstein, Reto
135 Pantano, Jarlinson
136 Reynes, Vicente
137 Wyss, Marcel
138 Zaugg, Oliver
AG2R La Mondiale
141 Bardet, Romain
142 Bakelants, Jan
143 Chérel, Mickaël
144 Dumoulin, Samuel
145 Gastauer, Ben
146 Gretsch, Patrick
147 Latour, Pierre
148 Riblon, Christophe
Astana
151 Sanchez, Luis Leon
152 López, Miguel Ángel
153 Lutsenko, Alexey
154 Rosa, Diego
155 Smukulis, Gatis
156 Tiralongo, Paolo
157 Westra, Lieuwe
158 Zeits, Andrey
Dimension Data
161 Siutsou, Kanstantsin
162 Berhane, Natnael
163 Jim, Songezo
164 Kudus, Merhawi
165 Meyer, Cameron
166 Reguigui, Youcef
167 Sbaragli, Kristian
168 Venter, Jaco
Giant - Alpecin
171 Dumoulin, Tom
172 Fröhlinger, Johannes
173 Haga, Chad
174 Ji, Cheng
175 Ludvigsson, Tobias
176 Preidler, Georg
177 Stamsnijder, Tom
178 Timmer, Albert
Team Roth
181 Kohler, Martin
182 Baillifard, Valentin
183 Brüngger, Nico
184 Krizek, Matthias
185 Page, Dylan
186 Pasqualon, Andrea
187 Pires, Bruno
188 Thalmann, Roland
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
191 Gasparotto, Enrico
192 Bille, Gaetan
193 Claeys, Dimitri
194 Marcato, Marco
195 Martin, Guillaume
196 Mcnally, Mark
197 Minnaard, Marco
198 Veuchelen, Frederik
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Stuart Clarke is a News Associates trained journalist who has worked for the likes of the British Olympic Associate, British Rowing and the England and Wales Cricket Board, and of course Cycling Weekly. His work at Cycling Weekly has focused upon professional racing, following the World Tour races and its characters.
-
'With a few changes, it'll be class' - Josh Tarling optimistic about Ineos Grenadiers future
'Everybody wants to get better and get back to winning,' 20-year-old tells audience at Rouleur Live
By Tom Davidson Published
-
'Knowing the course in a virtual race is maybe even more important than in road racing': Former e-sports World Champion's top tips
Speed skater turned eSports world champion, Loes Adegeest, on how to become virtually unbeatable when racing indoors
By Chris Marshall-Bell Published
-
Chris Froome misses out on Tour de France selection
39-year-old absent from Israel-Premier Tech's eight-rider roster
By Tom Davidson Published
-
Nairo Quintana’s former doctor to face trial for doping offences
Fredy Alexander Gonzales Torres is accused of "possession of a substance or method prohibited for use by an athlete" during the 2020 Tour de France
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
A complete history of Ineos Grenadiers kits, from Adidas to Gobik, via Rapha
The British team switch to Gobik in 2024 after two years with Bioracer
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
Chris Froome's boss rubbishes claims bike fit is behind lack of results
'He can talk about his bike position until the cows come home - that's still not going to earn him a position on a Grand Tour team' says Israel-Premier Tech team owner Sylvan Adams
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
Chris Froome, rim brake evangelist, 'warms to' disc brakes
The Israel-Premier Tech rider, also an investor at Factor Bikes, says that he has "way less problems" with discs these days
By Adam Becket Published
-
Is Chris Froome - in 2023 - a professional cyclist, or an influencer?
The seven-time Grand Tour winner hasn't raced since July, but has taken to being interesting on social media
By Adam Becket Published
-
Chris Froome 'absolutely not' worth multi-million euro salary says his team boss
The four-time Tour de France winner was not selected for this year's Tour de France for performance reasons, Israel-Premier Tech boss Sylvan Adams says
By Chris Marshall-Bell Published
-
Chris Froome not selected for Tour de France 2023
38-year-old misses out on 'ultimate goal' as Israel-Premier Tech confirm eight-man squad
By Tom Davidson Published