2017 Tour de Romandie | |
Date | March-April |
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Region | Romandie, Switzerland |
English name | Tour of Romandy |
Local name(s) | Tour de Romandie (French) |
Discipline | Road |
Competition | UCI World Tour |
Type | Stage race |
First edition | 1947 |
Editions | 71 (as of 2017) |
First winner | Désiré Keteleer (BEL) |
Most wins | Stephen Roche (IRL) (3 wins) |
Most recent | Richie Porte (AUS) |
The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling.
The race traditionally starts with an individual time trial prologue and ends with an individual time-trial in hilly terrains; many a times in Lausanne. The final time-trial traditionally starts in the stadium north of Lausanne, goes downhill southwards to Lake Léman (Lake Geneva), and makes its way back uphill to the stadium again. Not surprisingly, the winner and several of the top-ten finishers are usually excellent time trialists.
Prior to the 2014 edition, four winners of the Tour de Romandie had gone on to win the Tour de France in the same year; Stephen Roche in 1987, then Cadel Evans, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
The course of the race usually heads northwards towards the Jura mountains and Alpine mountain ranges of western Switzerland.