British teen Brennan takes stage 1 of Tour de Romandie
It marked a fourth victory on the professional circuit for the Visma-Lease a Bike rider, who is just 19. He won the Grand Prix de Denain and two stages of the Tour of Catalunya in March.
Former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas worked overtime to try and get his Ineos team-mate Samuel Watson, who won the prologue on Tuesday, to the front but it was Brennan who rode away powerfully to win by several metres ahead of the peloton.
Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel, one of the favourites to win the race, came in 7sec behind Brennan in ninth.
With the weather unseasonably warm for the end of April, it was an eye-catching performance by the young Englishman to win the longest stage of the race -- 194km and over 3,000m of climbing from Muenchenstein, including two second category climbs.
Thanks to bonuses, he takes a 3sec lead over Watson into Thursday's second stage which will take the peloton on a 157km loop from the start to the finish in La Grande Beroche, before the queen stage in the mountains on Saturday and the final time trial on Sunday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Pogacar again soars away from stellar field to increase Criterium du Dauphine lead
"I launched it and maintained a good pace to the top," he said at the finish. The Slovenian had grabbed the overall lead the day before when he shot clear on the short closing climb. On Saturday's penultimate stage, a 131.7km run from Grand-Aigueblanche, Pogacar's UAE team-mate Pavel Sivakov reduced the leading pack by setting a ferocious tempo at the front at the start of the 20-kilometre final climb to Valmeinier ski resort. With 12km to go, Pogacar upped the tempo, standing on his pedals and rocketing clear. As on Friday, only his main Tour de France rival Jonas Vingegaard and young German Florian Lipowitz could respond. Vingegaard settled into a dogged pursuit. Pogacar, without rising out of his saddle again, was able to maintain an uncatchable pace. He increased his lead to as much as 30 seconds before relaxing up toward the end. He cruised across the line 14 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, quivering with effort as he came home. "Today Jonas was really strong I did not want to go too deep myself," said Pogacar. "It was a super hot and long climb. Luckily, I had enough time to ease up in the last kilometres and recovered." "Happy I could defend the jersey like this." Lipowitz was again third at 1min 21sec Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who had led the overall classification, until Friday, finished fifth, as he had on Friday, losing 2 minutes and 39 seconds. With one stage to go, Pogacar increased his lead to 1:01 over Vingegaard, 2:01 over German Florian Lipowitz and 4:11 to Evenepoel in fourth. For much of the stage, Vingegaard's lieutenants on the powerful Visma team launched attack after attack, but they could not shake off Pogacar, or Sivakov, either going up or down the day's biggest climb the Col de la Croix de Fer. "We wanted to take control on all the climbs, but Visma tried with all the attacks. I was pretty happy with how Pavel and the team rode today. It was sort of defence, to not get attacked by everyone from Visma," said Pogacar. He complained at the way Visma had tried to drop him on the descent of the Col de Croix de Fer. "They went a little bit dangerous in the first kilometres of the downhill," he said. "I didn't like that, but it's modern cycling," he said. With the Tour de France starting on July 5, Pogacar beat Vingegaard to take a third stage victory in the race. It was also the 98th of the Slovenian's career, breaking a tie with French sprinter Arnaud Demare for most by an active rider. He has a chance for one more on Sunday when the race finishes with another mountainous stage, 133.3km from Val-d'Arc to the Plateau du Mont-Cenis.
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Pogacar back in Dauphine yellow after sixth stage victory
With this 97th victory of his career, the Slovenian, who cruised in 1min 1sec ahead of Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, becomes the active rider with the joint-most victories -- on a par with French sprinter Arnaud Demare. Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who was leading the overall classification, finished fifth at 1min 50sec. Pogacar now has a 43sec lead over Vingegaard, 54sec over German Florian Lipowitz and 1min 22sec over Evenepoel. The Slovenian had already worn the yellow jersey before in this 77th edition of the Dauphine after claiming victory in the first stage last weekend. "I'm super happy to be back in yellow. It was a very good day for us," said Pogacar. "I'm getting very good answers from this Dauphine. I wasn't too stressed after the time-trial (on Wednesday) and the shape is here." On Friday, in the first of three mountain stages and competing under a baking sun, he took his revenge on Vingegaard on the Cote de Domancy, where the Dane had outclassed him in a time-trial at the 2023 Tour de France. The world champion put in an acceleration with 7km to go that left everyone in his wake. Only Vingegaard managed to hang on to his wheel for a few metres before settling back, unable to keep up with his rival. It was an important marker for Pogacar to put down to his leading Tour de France rivals ahead of his title defence following the 26-year-old's sub-par showing in Wednesday's time-trial at the Dauphine.
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Kevin De Bruyne begins new chapter with Napoli signing
05:08 Sports After 10 years with Manchester City, Belgian Kevin De Bruyne is moving south to Italy. He will continue to play in a sky-blue shirt, but now with SSC Napoli. Following an illustrious career in Manchester, the 33-year-old is embarking on a new chapter that will be watched closely. In other football news, Trent Alexander-Arnold has taken his first steps away from Liverpool, where he had spent his entire professional life. The former Reds defender now plays in white for Real Madrid. Finally, Cadillac Hypercars achieved a double victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in a historic first.
