"Fast and tough day at the office" - Carlos Rodriguez moves up on GC at the 2025 Tour de Romandie

Defending champion at the Tour de Romandie, Carlos Rodriguez has returned in 2025, once again the leader of the INEOS Grenadiers and with two stages and a prologue in his legs, the Spaniard is very much in contention.

Sitting 14th on GC, Rodriguez is 1:03 down on the new race leader Alex Baudin after stage 2, but perhaps more importantly, the INEOS leader is just 11 seconds behind Remco Evenepoel and 10 seconds off the pace of Joao Almeida in the general classification. The Spaniard was also one of those riders leading the GC group's chase of five attackers that broke free in the finale and ultimately took the stage win on Thursday afternoon through Lorenzo Fortunato.

Reflecting on his performance, Rodriguez took to his official Instagram account after the stage, summing up what was a frantic day of racing in one simple sentence. "Fast and tough day at the office."

With a punchy finish to Friday's stage 3, there is potential for the general classification favourites - Rodriguez among them - to show themselves at the front of race in the closing kilometres, battling it out for the stage win. With things still relatively closely packed in the GC, it's still all to play for as well.