Fabio Felline wins the Tour of Romandie Prologue
The Italian Trek-Segafredo rider goes under the 6 minute mark, in a prologue plagued with wet weather
Fabio Felline flew in the rain in the opening prologue of the Tour de Romandía. The Italian was the only one able (along with Dowsett) to get under the six minutes mark with a time of 5m 57s of the 162 who took the start in Aigle.
It was his first triumph in a time trial stage and his is second victory of the season after the trophy of Laigueglia.
The favorites had a very disappointing first day, except for Ion Izagirre who was 12 seconds down. Primoz Roglic was 9 seconds down.
Froome was way off pace, 29 seconds down. The greatest losers were Richie Porte and Ilnur Zakarin, who were more than 30 seconds with the winner. The rain made that many would not want to risk and wait for tomorrow to show their cards.
"This victory is for Scarponi," said Felline. "I also want to dedicate this to another family close to me who one week before Scarponi also went through the same situation. For me, the last 10 days have not been easy."
"I never expected this victory," continued Felline. "This is the biggest victory of this season for me, and I needed this win for a lot of reasons. It has been two months that I have always been in the front [of races], always with the good riders, but always I missed the results. This victory is for sure a good present for me, and for the team."
"On Sunday a lot of people were asking me what I thought of the story of Scarponi and when I started Liege I thought maybe I could do a good result in his honor," added Felline. "In the end, it was not Sunday; it was today."
Tomorrow's stage one enters the high mountains. At 174 kilometers, it contains five climbs and the mountain finish in Champéry, a first category climb. At twelve kilometers long, it will serve as the first test for the GC contenders, like Chris Froome and Richie Porte. There is a huge duel brewing between Froome and Porte and team Sky and BMC Racing.
Join us tomorrow here on our live stream, for all the action.
2017 Tour of Romandie Prologue Top 10 Results
1 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:57
2 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:02
3 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:07
4 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:08
5 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
6 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:09
7 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:00:10
8 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
9 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:00:11
10 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe