The Tour de Romandie continues according to Tadej’s plans. After he celebrated victory in Stage 1 and put on the leader’s yellow jersey, he was also the fastest in Stage 2, finishing in Vucherens.
On the 173.1-kilometer stage, the Ineos Grenadiers first took the initiative, wanting to set up a sprint for the winner of Tuesday’s prologue, Dorian Godon. By setting a sharp pace, they ensured that the breakaway of Jakob Södeqvist (Lidl Trek), Filippo Conca (Jayco AlUla), Roland Thalmann (Tudor) and Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic PostNL) did not get too far away.
In the chase, Tadej’s teammates from UAE Team Emirates – XRG also helped for a while, and the peloton caught the breakaway before the last of the three climbs up Vullens (3.1 km, 5.4%). Primož Roglič (Red Bull Bora Hensgrohe) was the first to accelerate on the climb, and Tadej still had to cover a few attacks up to the top. A thinned-out peloton (32 riders) rolled into the finale and battled for the win. Although Godon is considered the strongest sprinter in the race, Tadej beat him convincingly.
»We knew the day would be hard. We sent Vegard Stake Laengen to the front to set the pace together with the Ineos riders, who were planning a sprint. The breakaway went all-out up front, and the Ineos riders did the same behind. Vegard was already on the limit at that point, and we didn’t send other riders to the front, because it wouldn’t hurt us if the breakaway reached the finish,« Tadej said about the race before the decisive final kilometers.
»In the end, Ineos pulled so hard that we caught the breakaway. Then came Roglič’s attack on the climb; his pace suited me very well. It was hard, but I had everything under control. In the end I did a good sprint. I knew that because of the headwind and a slight downhill I mustn’t stay on the front for too long. I came from behind with a lot of speed and I’m very happy with the second victory,« Tadej continued.
He celebrated his sixth win this season, 114th of his career, and the second in a row at the Tour de Romandie. That led to questions about whether he intends to win the remaining three stages as well. »That’s not our goal. People think it’s easy to win, but every victory is the team’s hard work. You have to understand that riders like Vegard Stake Laengen, Felix Großschartner, Pavel Sivakov, Domen Novak, Kevin Vermaerke, and the other guys spend more energy over the week than I do. We can’t keep burning their matches all the time—chapeau to them. For us it would be important if a breakaway succeeded in one of the stages so we could afford an easier pace,« replied Tadej, who hopes that Stage 3 will unfold similarly to today’s.
»If I say a calmer day is coming, tomorrow everyone will want to go in the breakaway and the day won’t be calm. We hope that tomorrow we will also race at our own pace and stick to our plan,« Tadej added. With 10 bonus seconds for the win, he increased his overall lead over second-placed Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) to 17 seconds, while third-placed Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) trails by 26 seconds.