British champion Wiggins wins today’s bunch sprint
The Irish duo of Dan Martin and Matt Brammeier have enjoyed mixed fortunes on today’s first road stage of the Tour de Romandie, which proved a lot more eventful than expected and was capped by Bradley Wiggins winning the bunch sprint.
The climbs proved to be more decisive than the riders expected, with the race splitting on the second category Haut de la Cote after 159.1km, the penultimate clime of the day. Large numbers of riders got shelled there never to see the main group again.
One of those to get dropped was prologue winner and yellow jersey wearer Geraint Thomas (Team Sky). He eventually came home in a large group of around 30 riders some 7:22 down. That group also included Irish champion Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quickstep).
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There were no such issues for the in-form Dan Martin (Garmin Barracuda) who finished in the lead group of 59 riders on the same time as stage winner and new GC leader Wiggins. The Briton’s lead-out style push for the line was so strong that nobody else could come around him.
He took a rare bunch sprint victory after team mate Mark Cavendish was dropped with the others on the penultimate climb. Wiggins’ ride was made all the more remarkable by the fact he was off the back with a puncture with just 20kms remaining to the stage end in La Chaux-de-Fonds after 184.5km.
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Dan Martin will most likely bide his time until Saturday’s queen stage; 184km with three cat 1 ascents. Brammeier is coming back to racing after a period of illness but may well get a chance to get up the road in coming days.
Tomorrow’s stage is 149km into Moutier with three climbs; a third cat and two second cats.
Stage 1 Result
1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 4:50:23
2 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
3 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Pro Team Astana
4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
5 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
6 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team
7 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
8 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre - ISD
9 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Barracuda
10 Pieter Weening (Ned) GreenEdge Cycling Team
21 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Barracuda same time
118 Matthew Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 7:22
General Classification
1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 4:53:51
2 Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling 0:00:07
3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:09
4 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
5 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:11
6 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
7 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:12
8 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha Team
9 Molina Ruben Plaza (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:13
38 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Barracuda 0:23
126 Matthew Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 7:39
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