Tour de Romandie 2026 prologue preview, profiles, favourites & predictions - Is Tadej Pogacar winning the explosive prologue?

The 2026 Tour de Romandie will take place from the 28th of April to the 3rd of May and will make for Tadej Pogacar's debut in a stage-race this year. The Swiss race provides the final big test ahead of the Giro d'Italia whilst also following the spring classics, a period where many are looking to save their campaign. We preview the prologue, which is estimated to start and finish at 15:30 and 17:30CET.

The race was first held in 1947 with Belgian Désiré Keteleer taking the first win. Taking part in the French part of Switzerland, it is a race that has had a very international list of winners, from several generations and also different types of riders. But many of the greats have marked their name on it such as Eddy Merckx, Bernard Thévenet, Bernard Hinault, Stephen Roche and Laurent Jalabert.

Alrrady this century we've had Cadel Evans, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome use Romandie ahead of their maiden Tour de France wins; whilst huge names such as Nairo Quintana, Richie Porte, Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas have also won the GC on what is considered to be one of the seven big non Grand-Tour stage-races.

Adam Yates won it in 2023, Carlos Rodríguez in 2024; and in 2025 it was João Almeida who won the race on the final day after dethroning Lenny Martínez from the yellow jersey.

The race starts off with a prologue but in good Romandie fashion, it is anything but simple. In fact it is a hard one to pace, taking place fully within Villars-sur-Glane, the riders will have only 3.1 kilometers to tackle but they are not flat.

The first part is extremely fast, as the riders descend straight away after starting their effort, and then climb back up through a climb that is in total 1.3 kilometers long at 5%. There is an 800-meter long ramp at 7% where the main differences or the day are expected to take place. It's a short effort where the gaps will be minimal; with the pure power and aerodynamics being key to the outcome of the stage.

*** Tadej Pogacar

** Ivo Oliveira, Jakob Söderqvist, Primoz Roglic, Luke Plapp

* Pablo Castrillo, Rémi Cavagna, Axel Zingle, Florian Lipowitz, Mattia Cattaneo, Daniel Martínez, Oscar Onley, Dorian Godon, Mauro Schmid, Ethan Hayter

Pick: Tadej Pogacar