Tadej Pogacar made sure his first group-stage race of 2026 got off to a flyer after winning Tuesday's sprint finish at the Tour de Romandie.
After coming home sixth in Monday's short and sweet opening prologue, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider held off the challenge of Florian Lipowitz and Lenny Martinez – as well as scaling his first mountain of the season – to secure Stage 1 victory.
It was Pogacar's fifth win of the season – following four one-day race victories – on just his seventh day of racing in what looks set to be another stellar campaign for the Slovenian megastar.
The 27-year-old world champion now enjoys a seven second lead over Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the general classification with Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) a further nine seconds back.
“I didn’t plan anything. But it’s nice to take the win,” Pogacar said at the finish after taking over the lead from Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers). “It was a really nice race, but really quick. I’m really happy with the sprint against these guys.”
Lipowitz's teammate Primoz Roglic – who was among those expected to challenge race-favourite Pogacar – finds himself in sixth place overall, already 32 seconds shy of his countryman.
Pogacar had launched his attack on his first climb of the year over the brutally steep Ovronnax with 39km to go although there was no sign of one of his trademark long-range solo efforts.
On the flat run along the valley that followed for the final 23km, Martinez had kept in touch with Lipowitz joining them after Roglic had attempted to hang on only to be dropped.
Jorgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) eventually made it a quartet whose lead over a group of 12 riders shrank from a minute to 15 seconds in the final kilometre.
“The last 20km was a headwind and it would be stupid for me to try something,” Pogacar said. “I was happy to have two young eager guys to pull with me, they did a super good job.
“We managed to stay in front, which is difficult with only three and one guy sitting in the wheels.
“We saw it was on us all day today, and the team did a super good job, so I’m super happy to take the yellow. We’ll now try to defend it every stage. And the best form of defence is attack.”
Thursday's Stage 2 is a 173.1km run from the medieval village of Rue to Vucherens which features of series of punchy climbs
Stage 1 results:
- 1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3:56:55
- 2. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) same time
- 3. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) same time
- 4. Jorgen Nordhagen (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) same time
General classification:
- 1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4:00:27
- 2. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +7
- 3. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) +16
- 4. Jorgen Nordhagen (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +23
