The Tour de Romandie – a six-day stage race which runs from Tuesday 24th April until Sunday 29th April – started in 1947 in the French-speaking part of Switzerland to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Swiss Cycling Federation. Due to its varied parcours it’s long been used for fine-tuning form ahead of the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. It’s also an excellent opportunity to see who’s in form, and who’s not.

It’s a WorldTour event, and Switzerland’s largest race after the Tour de Suisse, so all the ProTeams will be riding in its 66th edition, along with wild-card invitees Saur-Sojasun and Europcar. A quick scan of the event’s history shows that many of the sport’s greatest names have won here, including Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Jalabert and three-time winner Stephen Roche. Continue reading →