The 2014 Tour de Romandie was the 68th running of the Tour de Romandie cycling stage race. The race consisted of six stages, beginning with a prologue stage in Ascona on 29 April and concluding with another individual time trial, in Neuchâtel, on 4 May. It was the fourteenth race of the 2014 UCI World Tour season.
In exactly the same podium positions as the 2013 edition, Great Britain's Chris Froome of won the race for a second successive year, after winning the final time trial stage in Neuchâtel. Having trailed rider Simon Špilak by a single second going into the stage, Froome turned the deficit into a 28-second race-winning margin over the stage. Špilak finished second, having won the race's third stage – the queen stage into Aigle – by beating Froome in a two-up sprint, after the pair had attacked towards the end of the stage. The podium was completed again by Rui Costa, now riding for , who finished third for the third year in a row. Costa finished 64 seconds behind Špilak, and one minute 32 seconds behind Froome.
In the race's other classifications, the 's Jesús Herrada was the winner of the white jersey for the young rider classification as he was the highest placed rider born in 1989 or later, finishing in ninth place overall, 16 seconds ahead of nearest rival, 's Thibaut Pinot. Martin Kohler of the won the green jersey for the most points gained in intermediate sprints, while the pink jersey for the King of the Mountains classification went to Johann Tschopp of . The teams classification was won by the , after the squad placed three riders – Beñat Intxausti (sixth), Jon Izagirre (eighth) and Herrada – inside the top ten overall.
Teams As the Tour de Romandie was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Only were awarded a wildcard place into the race, thus completing the 19-team peloton. Pre-race favourites were Chris Froome, Tejay van Garderen, Michał Kwiatkowski, Simon Špilak, Vincenzo Nibali and Rui Costa.
The 19 teams that competed in the race were:
Schedule +List of stagesStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinner29 April Ascona to Ascona Individual time trial 130 April Brigerbad to Sion Mountain stage 21 May Sion to Montreux Intermediate stage 32 May Le Bouveret to Aigle Mountain stage 43 May Fribourg to Fribourg Flat stage 54 May Neuchâtel to Neuchâtel Individual time trial
Stages Prologue 29 April 2014 — Ascona, , individual time trial (ITT)
Stage 1 30 April 2014 — Brigerbad to Sion,
The stage was originally scheduled to be held over , but was significantly shortened due to snow.
Stage 2 1 May 2014 — Sion to Montreux,
Stage 3 2 May 2014 — Le Bouveret to Aigle,
Stage 4 3 May 2014 — Fribourg to Fribourg,
Stage 5 4 May 2014 — Neuchâtel, , individual time trial (ITT)
Classification leadership table
In the 2014 Tour de Romandie, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses in mass-start stages – on a basis of ten seconds to the stage winner, six seconds for second place and four seconds for third place – the leader received a yellow jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2014 Tour de Romandie, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.
Additionally, there was a young rider classification, which awarded a white jersey. This was decided in the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1989 were eligible to be ranked in the classification. There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a pink jersey. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs; there were fourteen categorised climbs in the race, split into three distinctive categories.
The fourth jersey represented the sprints classification, marked by a green jersey. In the sprints classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 3 at intermediate sprint points during each stage, with the exception of the individual time trial stages. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.
Stage WinnerGeneral classificationMountains classificationSprints classificationYoung rider classificationTeam classification P Michał Kwiatkowski Michał Kwiatkowski not awardedAlthough Michał Kwiatkowski received the jersey on the podium in Ascona, no points were on offer during the stage. not awarded Michał Kwiatkowski 1 Michael Albasini Johann Tschopp Vincenzo Nibali 2 Michael Albasini Michael Albasini Martin Kohler 3 Simon Špilak Simon Špilak Jesús Herrada 4 Michael Albasini 5 Chris Froome Chris Froome Final Chris Froome Johann Tschopp Martin Kohler Jesús Herrada
Classification standings General classification
Mountains classification
Young rider classification
Team classification
Notes
References
External links