"I don’t really care about the leader’s jersey" - Mixed emotions for Alex Baudin after missing out on stage 2 win at the Tour de Romandie

23-year-old Frenchman Alex Baudin is the new general classification leader of the 2025 Tour de Romandie following stage 2. After narrowly missing out on the stage win to Lorenzo Fortunato however, the EF Education-EasyPost prospect cut a slightly frustrated figure in his post-race interview.

"To be honest, right now I don’t really care about the leader’s jersey — no disrespect to the race — but what I really wanted was the win," admitted Baudin honestly with regret in his immediate interview after crossing the line.

Having come to the finale in a five-man group alongside the aforementioned Fortunato, Lennert Van Eetvelt, Juan Pedro Lopez and William Junior Lecerf, Baudin ended up being taken by surprise as Fortunato launched his sprint early. "I based my sprint off Lennert Van Eetvelt. We were watching each other, and Fortunato played it perfectly — he went at just the right moment," rues Baudin. "I had my strategy in mind, I stuck to it, but it didn’t work out. These are moments where everything gets decided in a split second. I decided to stop taking turns at the front with about 4 kilometres to go. At first, the others were rotating, but after a while, they got fed up with it… I think I was the fastest in the group, which makes it all the more frustrating. I’m really disappointed to have missed out on my first WorldTour victory."

Nevertheless, there are clearly plenty of positives to take for the Frenchman, as well as the Yellow Jersey of race leader. "I saw that I’m in good form, even if I was really at my limit to stay with the best over the climb. But if I’ve got the jersey, that’s great — we’ll try to get the best possible result in the overall classification, even if it’ll be tough," he concluded.