Tour de Romandie 2016: Stage 1 - Kittel to take shortened race, Izagirre retains lead

Stage 1 of the Tour of Romandie is shortened due to bad weather. At around 100 kilometres, the riders now head from Mathod to Moudon for a Marcel Kittel showcase. The strong German outsprints the pack and seems ready for next week's Giro d'Italia. Ion Izagirre retains in the overall lead. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 1st stage Tour de Romandie

1. Marcel Kittel (ger)
2. Niccolò Bonifazio (ita) s.t.
3. Michael Albasini (swi) s.t.
4. Tosh Van der Sande (bel) s.t.
5. Ramunas Navardauskas (lit) s.t.
6. Davide Cimolai (ita) s.t.
7. Samuel Dumoulin (fra) s.t.
8. Enrico Gasparotto (ita) s.t.
9. Kristian Sbaragli (ita) s.t.
10. Ilnur Zakarin (rus) s.t.

GC after 1st stage
1. Ion Izagirre (spa)
2. Tom Dumoulin (nld) + 0.06
3. Geraint Thomas (gbr) + 0.07
4. Gorka Izagirre (spa) + 0.08
5. Reto Hollenstein (swi) + 0.11
6. Louis Vervaeke (bel) s.t.
7. Tejay Van Garderen (usa) s.t.
8. Martijn Keizer (nld) + 0.12
9. Thibaut Pinot (fra) s.t.
10. Andrey Amador (crc) + 0.13

13. Nairo Quintana (col) + 0.14
22. Romain Bardet (fra) + 0.18
29. Simon Spilak (slo) + 0.22
38. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 0.24
48. Chris Froome (gbr) + 0.26

Race report
Once the flag is dropped Sander Armee attacks. Nico Brüngger and Marco Minnaard try to bridge the gap. But no no avail. For quite a while they are 2 minutes adrift, while Armee puts a maximum of around 4 minutes into the pack.

The chasing duo is reeled in with 69 kms done and the pack heads for the lone escapee, who is caught with 13 kms to go.

Etixx forms a mighty train in the finale, which inspires Michael Alabasini to an all or nothing attacks. Kittel doesn’t blink and the German powers to the win.