Peter Sagan has taken his second win of the season after proving best in the sprint from a reduced bunch at the end of stage 1 at the Tour de Romandie.
The peloton was trimmed back on the final climb of the day on the 168km race, which included four laps of a large circuit, from Aigle to Martigny. It was a stage where Eddie Dunbar did a lot of work on the front in the defence of the yellow jersey held by his Ineos Grenadiers team.
In what looked like a laboured sprint, Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) managed to get into the wheel of Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) after the Italian went early. And just before the line Sagan came out of the wheel and got ahead to win from Colbrelli.
Kiwi Patrick Bevin (Israel Start-Up Nation) was in 3rd place and could have done better had he not gotten caught up in congestion in the bunch and also not lost the battle for Colbrelli's wheel to Sagan.
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It came down to a sprint after the early breakaway was caught, with Eddie Dunbar doing much of the chasing, and a number of counter attacks were neutralised on the run in to the finish line.
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All of the main favourites finished in the bunch meaning yesterday's prologue TT winner Rohan Dennis leads overall from his two Ineos Grenadiers team mates, Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte, who are both eight seconds off the yellow jersey.
With the time bonuses on offer today at the finish, Sagan moves into the top 10 overall; now 5th on GC some 12 seconds off the yellow jersey. It was his second victory of the year after he claimed stage 6 at Volta a Catalunya last month.
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