"Honestly, there's almost no point in going with the early breakaway" - Julien Bernard laments the fact breakaway wins are dying out

Whilst Julien Bernard may have been in the early breakaway of both the first two stages at the Tour de Romandie, the Frenchman laments the fact that wins from such breaks are now few and far between.

"Honestly, there's almost no point in going with the early breakaway," he told DirectVelo following yesterday's stage two of the race. "We had no chance. Neither yesterday nor today. Even when the gap was still three minutes, we could forget it," he says disappointedly.

The 31-year-old Trek - Segafredo rider has a healthy lead in the King of the Mountains classification of the race so his breakaway rides haven't been totally without reward. “This year is impressive. The races start from this far, every day. The break cannot cause tension. Frankly, there's almost no point in going on the early break. You can pick up a jersey but I know that there is very little chance for the rest," he explains.

"When it was five minutes today, I thought for a moment: why not? But you have to be very strong to be able to ride alone at the end and to postpone the regrouping a bit longer," the Frenchman continues referencing stage two of the Tour de Romandie. “It was already the case in Paris-Nice. They are steamrollers behind you. You have to be very strong and be in a very large group. It is for this reason that no early breakaway has yet made it into a WorldTour race this year. This is not a time for the baroueurs , this is a time for the big leaders. I hope that the tide will turn again and that I will be in the leading group that day.”