A circuit with a classic profile: that's what the organisers of the Tour de Romandie had in mind for the second stage from Rue to Vucherens. The day's profile included around 3100 metres of climbing, in particular thanks to three ascents to Vuillens, a 3rd category climb. The special trick: the last mountain classification awaited three kilometres before the finish. However, the climb was only moderate with a length of 3.6 kilometres and a gradient of 4.8 percent.
Pogacar has the highest top speed
Nevertheless, the peloton thinned out to around 30 riders on the climb and the pace work of UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. After 173 kilometres it came to a sprint decision, in which Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) finally prevailed. Over the last 100 metres, the Slovenian overtook Dorian Godon (INEOS Grenadiers) with more speed and recorded a commanding victory - his second in a row. Third place went to Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe). Tobias Steinhauser (EF Education - EasyPost) took ninth place in the daily classification.
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) was also part of the group and is now 17 seconds behind the leader in the overall standings due to the time bonus for Pogacar. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious) also follows in third place with 26 seconds.
Tour de Romandie 2026 - Results of the 2nd stage
Stage 4: Saumur - Poitiers
Etoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard 2025: Stage 4, Saumur - Poitiers
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team SD Worx - Protime | 02:54:11 |
| 2 | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | +00:00:00 |
| 3 | UAE Team ADQ | +00:00:00 |
| 4 | VolkerWessels Cycling Team | +00:00:00 |
| 5 | CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto | +00:00:00 |
| 6 | AG Insurance - Soudal Team | +00:00:00 |
How the 2nd stage of the Tour de Romandie 2026 went
A few kilometres after the start of the stage in Rue, the four-man lead group of the day formed, consisting of Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek), the Italian champion Filippo Conca (Jayco-AlUla), Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic-PostNL) and Roland Thalmann (Tudor). However, the group was allowed a maximum lead of around 2:30 minutes. The prospect of winning the stage was therefore slim from the start.
However, the Swiss rider Thalmann was travelling in the group with a special goal. The 32-year-old had already collected some mountain points as a member of the escape group on the first stage and secured both mountain classifications again on the way to Vuillens. Thalmann thus took the lead in the mountain classification.
Jakob Söderqvist the last runaway
With 47 kilometres to go, the riders crossed the finish line in Vucherens for the penultimate time and set off on the final lap. At this point, the breakaway still had a lead of around 1:30 minutes. Under the pace of INEOS Grenadiers, however, the gap shrank rapidly before the escape group was kept on a short leash of around 30 seconds for long stretches.
Shortly before the start of the final climb to Vuillens, Söderqvist shook off his three companions with 8.5 kilometres to go and still had a 33-second lead. However, Team UAE Emirates - XRG and BORA - hansgrohe pushed the pace in the peloton on the climb, so that Söderqvist was caught four kilometres before the finish.
After the mountain classification, there were a few attacks in the last three kilometres, but no rider was able to break away due to the high speed and headwind. In the end, there was a sprint by a group of around 30 riders, in which Pogacar won again.
