Whether on the mountain or in the sprint: Road cycling world champion Tadej Pogacar is dominating the Tour de Romandie at will. The Slovenian cycling star won the second stage in the sprint of a larger group and thus celebrated his second victory on the third day. Pogacar had only settled for sixth place in the opening prologue.
After 173.1 kilometres from Rue to Vucherens, Pogacar took victory ahead of the Frenchman Dorian Godon, who is actually one of the top sprinters and had already won stages at Paris-Nice and the Tour of Catalonia this year. "The others were in the wind too early, which was an advantage for me. I had everything under control and was able to put in a good sprint," said Pogacar, who had won the tough spring classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday.
Lipowitz unsuccessful with attack
Florian Lipowitz launched an attack shortly before the finish, but was unable to make a decisive breakaway. In any case, the German cycling star did not make any friends with his riding style the day before, when he refused to lead a four-man breakaway group around Pogacar and received a reprimand from the Tour champion. Lipowitz remains second in the overall standings, 17 seconds behind Pogacar.
Friday's 176.6-kilometre third stage, which starts and finishes in Orbe, once again has a challenging profile in store for the riders. The Col du Mollendruz in particular, a second-category climb, is likely to provide a preliminary decision a good 30 kilometres before the finish.
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