Tour de Romandie: Dorian Godon strikes again as Carlos Rodríguez seals overall title

Dorian Godon (Decathlon-AG2R) claimed his second victory of the Tour de Romandie, coming out on top in a messy sprint finish on a wet final day that Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) weathered to seal the overall title.

The final stage, made up of laps around Vernier, was made treacherous by the persistent rainfall, and the race grew chaotic amid splits and attacks in the peloton on the final lap.

However, Rodríguez was present and correct as a large bunch eventually arrived to contest the finish, where Godon, who admitted he’s not at all a pure sprinter, walked away with his second sprint victory of the week-long WorldTour race.

Given the reduced nature of the peloton, the late attacks, and the weather conditions, it was a messy final kilometre, but Godon was launched up to the front by his teammate Nicolas Prodhomme ahead of the crucial 90-degree left-hand bend inside 500 metres to go.

He wasn’t the quickest through the bend, but he opened the taps and set about hunting down the man that was, Clément Venturini (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) before flying past his fellow Frenchman and breezing clear of the rest to win by a big margin.

Several bike lengths back was Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek), with Dion Smith (Intermarché-Wanty) sealing the final spot on the podium.

One rider noted a bit of trickery in claiming Prodhomme grabbed a big chunk of brake through that important corner, thus slowing the riders behind Godon, but Consonni and Smith conceded that there was no touching Godon, who was a convincing winner.

“With the rain, it was not a pleasant day,” said Godon. “I was very well led out by Clément Berthet and Nico [Prodhomme], who already did a great job as a climber but now was my lead-out man.

“He launched me until 500 metres, and I wanted to be in the first two or three into that corner, and then just launch – not calculate but do the sprint from the front. I didn’t take any risks in that corner, even if there was some contact from behind, but I reacted well, I saw the line and didn’t stop until I got there.”

Rodríguez weathers the storm

The 150km final stage featured four full laps of a rolling circuit around Vernier, with one categorised climb at Dardagny (4.4km at 6%) on the lap but plenty of undulations besides. The day was complicated by the rain, which came down for most of the day, forcing the riders to stave off the cold and take care on the descents.

The day was marked by a four-man breakaway, featuring Remi Cavagna (Movistar), Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Alexandre Balmer (Swiss Cycling). They were kept on a short leash, however, with Lidl-Trek the most controlling force in the bunch, with help from Q36.5.

With 50km to go, sensing the move was doomed to failure, Cavagna attacked the group and made a strong fist of a solo attack, but was brought back on the final climb of Dardagny with 30km to go, just as sparks started to fly in the peloton, which would soon spell the end for all the breakaway hopefuls.

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) launched the opening attack on the climb, with big names like Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe), Enric Was (Movistar), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) all giving it a nudge and sensing an opportunity.

In the end, it was Feliz Grossschartner (UAE Team Emirates) who attacked beyond the top, soon forming a dangerous four-man group but then slipping clear of them to go solo once more. On the descent, however, he was brought back into the fold just as the peloton started to split.

Ineos Grenadiers appeared caught out as they were seen chasing in a secondary group, but it was likely to try and drag Ethan Hayter back, as Rodríguez was present and well supported in the main group.

At the head of affairs, Johan Jacobs (Movistar) was creating a gap on the descent with his daring descending but slipped out on a left-hander, leaving Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) to dangle off the front for a while. He was swiftly replaced by the orange jersey of Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-AG2R) looking to extend his lead in the points classification that would ultimately be snatched by his teammate Godon.

Michael Valgren (EF) and Michael Hepburn (Jacyo-AlUla) formed the next attack on an uncategorised incline, before Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike looked to keep a lid on the main peloton. Martin and Mas rolled the dice one final time in the final 5km but it came down to a bunch finish, with Godon slingshotted to the front at the crucial moment, and then slingshotting himself to an emphatic victory.

As for Rodríguez, who took the yellow jersey on Saturday, the Spaniard finished safely in the bunch to seal his first stage race GC victory, marking an important milestone in his career.

“I’m full of pride and very happy to finally win a stage race,” he said. “I’m very grateful to the team for all the work they did for me. It’s a great satisfaction, and justifies all the work we’ve done behind the scenes.

“We knew it was going to be a complicated day with the rain, and I had to suffer, like everyone did, but the important thing is we brought the jersey home.”