Surprise victory for INEOS! Samuel Watson takes incredibly tight victory at Tour de Romandie prologue
CyclingTuesday, 29 April 2025 at 17:38
INEOS Grenadiers came to the Tour de Romandie with a strong squad, however very few would've expected it to be Samuel Watson to bring the team it's first victory on Swiss soil. The Briton was the fastest in the opening prologue, winning with a gap of less than a second.
Watson put in a time of 4:33 in the 3.4-kilometer tricky prologue in Saint-Imier, a time that would earn him the victory only 0.3 seconds faster than Ivo Oliveira, who himself is on stupendous form after his two victories at the recent Giro d'Abruzzo.
Remco Evenepoel, Stefan Küng and last year's prologue winner Maikel Zijlaard were all amongst the riders who set strong times, but it was truly a course designed for surprises and Watson took full advantage of it, taking the leader's jersey alongside him. Iván Romeo finished the day in third place.
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- He was evidently not considered a threat by Carapaz and del Toro, either, until it was too late.velodan05-06-2025
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- Luck is when Issac Del Toro and Carapaz get a puncture and Yates gets 30 s. Stupid tactics of others is not considered luck. Yates won by 4 minutes. There is not way he gets 4 unless the people behind him acting out.abstractengineer05-06-2025
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KerisVroom05-06-2025 - Giro 2025 is like Tour 2008 when Carlos Sastre won atop Alpe d'Huez. He should like ride Cadel Evans winning in Tour 2011.
James2631805-06-2025 - If they have to say that is not afraid, actually they may be afraidAlanCristian0205-06-2025
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- Chris Froome...who cares yet he gets top billing here!frieders305-06-2025