Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au
Dennis maintains spot in Tour de Romandie
Australian Rohan Dennis is in second place in the Tour de Romandie’s overall standings after stage two of the six-day road race in Switzerland.
April 27, 2018
Australian cyclist Rohan Dennis has held onto second place in the Tour de Romandie’s overall standings after Thomas De Gendt claimed stage two honours in the Swiss road race.
The Belgian Lotto Soudal breakaway specialist De Gendt crossed the line at Yverdon-les-Bains two minutes and four seconds ahead of the peloton after the 173.9km stretch from Delemont through the French-speaking part of the Alpine nation.
Sonny Colbrelli, whose Bahrain-Merida teammates had led a panicked chase, took second place while Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) finished third.
Primoz Roglic of LottoNL-Jumbo retained the yellow jersey from Dennis, who finished among the main bunch on Thursday and has the same time as the Slovenian race leader, before Friday’s stage three time trial.
Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) holds third four seconds back while BMC Racing’s Australian star Richie Porte is just 13 seconds off the pace in 10th.
Other Australians to finish among the main group in stage two were fourth-placed Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) and Mitchelton-Scott trio Damien Howson, Rob Power and Lucas Hamilton.
In the overall classification, Power is 18th just 17 seconds off the leader while Howson is a further two seconds behind in 22nd.
De Gendt, at one point led, by almost eight minutes at the 75km mark before he crossed the line well clear for the 13th win of his career and his second of the season.
The race ends on Sunday in Geneva.