Nicolas Roche lost four seconds to a small group in the Tour de Romandie today, but gained on the rest of the field.
Nicolas Roche may have lost contact with the lead group in the closing kilometres of stage 1 of the Tour of Romandie today, but the Irish international will still take heart from being at the head of the field in what was his first road race since Milan-Sanremo.
Roche lost 20 seconds in yesterday's opening prologue time trial and was looking forward to today's 203km stage which included a cat 1 ascent. However, that climb of the Simplonpass was covered in snow today.
It meant the riders caught the train down the course and stated a shortened stage of just 88kms at 3.15pm.
The short distance ensured a fast and furious stage, with a late attack by Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) on a descent splitting the field before he was overhauled and Orica-GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini sprinted in for the win at the head of a 14-rider group.
Roche was just four seconds back, coming home in 18th place and gaining time on most of the field as the tough finale saw small gaps appear though will rue not hanging in all the way.
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April 29th-May 4th: Tour de Romandie
Wednesday, April 30th: Stage 1
Ascona to Sion (88km from 203km)
| 1 | Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica GreenEdge | 2:11:11 |
| 2 | Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 3 | Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin Sharp | |
| 4 | Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
| 5 | Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin Sharp | |
| 6 | Matthias Brändle (Aut) IAM Cycling | |
| 7 | Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida | |
| 8 | Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
| 9 | Björn Thurau (Ger) Team Europcar | |
| 10 | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 11 | Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Shimano | |
| 12 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step | |
| 13 | Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha | |
| 14 | Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
| 15 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr | 0:00:04 |
| 16 | Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin Sharp | |
| 17 | Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale | 0:00:04 |
| 18 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
| 19 | Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
| 20 | Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Belisol |
General Classification
| 1 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step | 2:17:33 |
| 2 | Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica GreenEdge | 0:00:05 |
| 3 | Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin Sharp | |
| 4 | Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:06 |
| 5 | Matthias Brändle (Aut) IAM Cycling | 0:00:07 |
| 6 | Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin Sharp | 0:00:08 |
| 7 | Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step | 0:00:09 |
| 8 | Martijn Keizer (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:13 |
| 9 | Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
| 10 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky | 0:00:14 |
| 11 | Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 12 | Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | 0:00:15 |
| 13 | Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida | 0:00:16 |
| 14 | Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin Sharp | |
| 15 | Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Shimano | |
| 16 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
| 17 | Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha | 0:00:17 |
| 18 | Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step | 0:00:18 |
| 19 | Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale | |
| 20 | Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha | |
| 33 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:00:24 |
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