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McEwen takes Stage 1 at Romandie

By staff and wire reports
Published: Apr. 26, 2006
McEwen notches another win
McEwen notches another win
Photo: AFP

Australian Robbie McEwen dominated a bunch sprint to win the first stage of the six-day Tour de Romandie Wednesday in Payerne, Switzerland.

The Davitamon-Lotto sprinter burst ahead of a small group of contenders in the final 200 meters of the winding, rain-soaked 169km stage finale to cross the finish line in triumph.

Italian Mirco Lorenzetto (Milram) finished second ahead of Lampre's Daniele Bennati. Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) finished with the pack in his 2006 season debut, and former Romandie champion Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel), who won the prologue on Tuesday, retained the overall lead.

Konyshev took a good, long dig
Konyshev took a good, long dig
Photo: Graham Watson

The action began early as Russia's Dmitri Konyshev (LPR) broke away at the 24km mark to build an 11-minute advantage over the leading peloton after 100km.

But the pack began to close in on the 40-year-old veteran during the hike up the Gruyere, and with 45 miles to go Konyshev's lead was down to 4:20, dwindling further as the rain began to fall.

Driven by McEwen's Davitamon-Lotto teammates, the chase caught Konyshev 20km from the finish, after the Russian had ridden 124km by himself, and in the finish, the Aussie showed his comeback is well begun.

Davitamon-Lotto on the front
Davitamon-Lotto on the front
Photo: Graham Watson

It was all according to plan for McEwen, who said he had targeted the stage as part of his comeback from a rib injury last month.

"I've been telling the boys since yesterday that this was our only chance for a sprint and I wanted to win it, because I've had a hard time since, well, since I crashed and broke my rib on the fifth of March," he told Agence France Presse.

"I rode Tirreno [Adriatico] with a broken rib - basically rode everything with my rib broken and just couldn't go 100 percent - but now I'm finally back. This is really my first race in almost a month, so this is a good comeback race, and I knew this was my only chance."

Speaking with VeloNews after Tuesday's prologue, McEwen said he had been training toward this stage with an eye toward the Giro d'Italia and later, the Tour de France.

"As a sprinter I'm judged by what I do on the Tour. The Giro is probably second," he said. (To read the entire interview with McEwen, click here.)

Thursday's second stage is a 171.2km run that starts and ends in Porrentruy and takes in two category-1 climbs.

The Tour de Romandie, which many riders are using as a warm-up for the May 6-28 Giro d’Italia, continues until Sunday. —Agence France Presse and The Associated Press contributed to this report

Top 10
1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 169km in 4:10:21 (40.503 km/h)
2. Mirco Lorenzetto (I), Milram, same time
3. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre, s.t.
4. Enrico Gasparotto (I), Liqugas, s.t.
5. Bram De Groot (Ned), Rabobank, s.t.
6. Alberto Ongarato (I), Milram, s.t.
7. Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Sp), Rabobank, s.t.
8. Arnaud Gerard (F), Française des Jeux, s.t.
9. Leonardo Duque (Col), Cofidis, s.t.
10. Fabrizio Guidi (I) Phonak, s.t.

Overall
1. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, 4:14:48
2. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d’Epargne, s.t.
3. Bradley McGee (Aus), Française de Jeux, at 0:02
4. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, s.t.
5. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun), Crédit Agricole, at 0:06
6. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre, at 0:07
7. Oscar Pereiro (Sp) Caisse d’Epargne, s.t.
8. Tadej Valjavec (Slo), Lampre, at 0:09
9. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t.
10. Bram De Groot (Ned), Rabobank, s.t.

Complete results

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