The 2010 Tour de Romandie was the 64th edition of the Tour de Romandie cycling road race and the sixth event of the 2010 UCI ProTour. It started on 27 April in Lausanne and finished on 2 May in Sion. The race winner had been declared as Alejandro Valverde, who won the final stage to take the race by 11 seconds. However, some four weeks after the end of the race, the UCI placed Valverde under a two-year suspension for his involvement in the 2006 Operación Puerto doping case, which was backdated to, and involved removal of all his results since, 1 January 2010. Simon Špilak was thus promoted to the winner of the event.
Pre-race favourites
2010 pre-race favourites included 2009 champion, Roman Kreuziger of as well as teammate Ivan Basso. Denis Menchov of Russia was also a favourite.
This was local Alexandre Moos's 12th and final Tour de Romandie.
Teams Twenty teams participated in the race.
Stages
Prologue 27 April 2010 – Lausanne to Lausanne, (ITT)
This short course took place in the village of Porrentruy and included a 400-metre cobbled section.
Stage 1 28 April 2010 – Porrentruy to Fleurier,
A hilly stage in the Jura mountains north of Lake Neuchatel. Two category 1 climbs and a category 2 – and a few other bumps along the way. Although the last 10 km are downhill, the course may be well suited to a break-away.
Peter Sagan – the up-and-coming young cyclist claimed the victory in the sprint. It was his third victory of the season. The win put him in first place overall as he was just 0.92 seconds behind the previous leader, Marco Pinotti. Sagan was pleased with the win, but pledged his loyalty to team leader Roman Kreuziger. According to Cycling News, Sagan said,
Sprinter Mark Cavendish could not hang in the mountains and was dropped from the peloton with 45 km to go. Had he not, a victory would have helped teammate Marco Pinotti remain in the leaders jersey.
Stage 2 29 April 2010 – Fribourg to Fribourg,
The course passed through Fribourg twice before a flat finish. Two category one climbs were listed. The course climbed the locally famous and steep cobbled climb "Lorette" twice.
Stage 3 30 April 2010 – Moudon to Moudon, (ITT)
It's a short time trial but the first 7 kilometres are uphill at around 4%.
Stage 4 1 May 2010 – Vevey to Châtel-Saint-Denis,
For the first time in more than 40 years, the Tour de Romandie had a stage finish in France. Starting in Vevey (Switzerland), the route passed UCI headquarters in Aigle before turning up into the French Alps climbing the first category "Pas de Morgins."
The top of the climb is the Swiss / French border. The final climb – the Category 1 Col du Corbier – is at roughly 8% – not easy. And while the summit is 20+ km from the finish, the last are a gradual uphill.
Before this stage, Mark Cavendish, the winner of stage 2, was withdrawn by his team for his two-fingered celebration after victory.
Stage 5 2 May 2010 – Sion to Sion,
The "Queen" stage, this stage is very short but has three very difficult climbs.
Classification leadership + Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Young rider classification Team classification P Marco Pinotti Marco Pinotti Not Awarded Not Awarded Peter Sagan 1 Peter Sagan Peter Sagan Thibaut Pinot Thibaut Pinot 2 Mark Cavendish 3 Richie Porte Michael Rogers Artem Ovechkin 4 Simon Špilak Simon Špilak 5 Alejandro ValverdeIgor Antón Alejandro ValverdeSimon Špilak Final Alejandro ValverdeSimon Špilak Thibaut Pinot Thibaut Pinot Simon Špilak
Classification standings
General classification
Mountains classification
Young rider classification
Team classification
References
External links