Tour de Romandie 2024 - Stage 5: Godon takes stage win, Rodriguez overall victory

On the final 5th stage of the Tour de Romandie 2024 over 151 kilometres with start and finish in Vernier, there was a bunch sprint at the end. Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) had the fastest legs there, winning the final stage after stage 1. Well behind him, Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek) snatched second place, with Dion Smith (Intermarche-Wanty) in third.

On the last sharp left-hand bend, Clement Venturini (Arkea-B&B Hotels) was at the front of the field and was even able to open up a small gap to Dorian Godon behind him. However, Godon then ignited the turbo: he quickly distanced the riders behind him and passed Venturini, who was then caught by other riders. Godon clearly won the long sprint and Consonni was no longer able to put the day's winner under pressure. Dion Smith, on the other hand, fended off the attack of Tim van Dijke (Visma | Lease a Bike) and took third place.

Lipowitz storms onto the podium at Tour de Romandie 2024

Although no German riders were involved in the battle for the stage win on stage 5, one rider was particularly convincing in terms of the overall classification: Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished third overall. The 23-year-old was particularly convincing on the two mountain stages with a fourth and a second place. On the fourth stage, he was only beaten by Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), but was able to distance himself from other riders such as Egan Bernal and Juan Ayuso. In the end, the former biathlete was only nine seconds off the overall victory, which was won by Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers). Second place went to Lipowitz' team-mate Aleksandr Vlasov. Another German also won the mountain classification: Juri Hollmann (Alepcin-Deceuninck).

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Tour de Romandie 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 5

1. Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) 3:22:00
2. Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
3. Dion Smith (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:00
4. Tim van Dijke (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:00
5. Alex Aranburu (Movistar) +0:00
6. Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
7. Clement Venturini (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:00
8. Milan Menten (Lotto Dstny) +0:00
9. Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
10. Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00

Tour de Romandie 2024: The overall standings

1. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) 15:44:46
2. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:07
3. Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:09
4. Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:21
5. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:27
6. Enric Mas (Movistar) +0:38
7. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +0:49
8. Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +0:52
9. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) +1:02
10. Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) +1:23

How the 5th stage of the Tour de Romandie 2024 went

Right from the start, the race of the final stage was bumpy, with numerous attacks that were initially unsuccessful. It took 24 kilometres for the day's leading group to form: the extremely active Frenchman Remi Cavagna (Movistar) opened up a gap with Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) and Alexandre Balmer (Swiss Cycling), followed shortly afterwards by the German Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team).

The Ineos Grenadiers team with overall leader Carlos Rodriguez was mainly responsible for the chase, but Lidl-Trek and Bora-Hansgrohe were also at the front of the peloton time and again. The breakaway riders were given a maximum lead of two minutes, but were not really let off the leash on the hilly terrain.

Cavagna's breakaway attempt unsuccessful

With 46 kilometres to go, Remi Cavagna broke away from the leading group and subsequently tried to ride solo. Balmer then dropped back from the chasing trio, Rafferty and Brenner caught up with Cavagna again 15 kilometres later. The lead over the peloton had now shrunk to well under a minute.

The last 30 kilometres were once again fast-paced: Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) opened the finale with an attack out of the peloton. The Frenchman was unable to break away, but a short time later the breakaway trio was caught.

Ayuso attack fizzles out

As a result, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who was fourth overall, attacked, but was just as unable to break away as Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) a short time later. With 12 kilometres to go, Michael Hepburn (Team Jayco-AlUla) and Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) managed to break away, but they too were caught four kilometres later.

In the end, it came down to a bunch sprint, which Dorian Godon won. On the long final straight, he came out well ahead of Simone Consonni and Dion Smith.