The Tour de Romandie got underway in Aigle today with a short 4.8km prologue. Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) was the fastest, taking the victory and the overall leaders jersey. Alex Dowsett (Movistar) placed 2nd while the final podium spot went to Alexander Edmondson (Orica-Scott).
It was a wet start to the Tour de Romandie as the rain fell on the first half of all the riders competing today in Aigle. While the second half of the prologue was rain free, the wet roads still made the technical 4.8km course that much more challenging. Making history today with an all-African lineup at a World Tour race, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka’s riders were just looking to have a steady start to the week’s racing.
Daniel Teklehaimanot, our Eritrean time trial champion, was our first starter today and he set a solid time of 6’20” which our other riders could use to gauge their efforts. Mekseb Debesay later proved to be our best on the day, as he went a second faster than his older countryman, placing him 43rd on the stage and just 22 seconds behind the winner.
All our African Team riders got through the slippery course in good shape and will now focus on mounting a challenge for a stage victory over the coming week.
Alex Sans Vega – Sport Director
We can be happy with our start today. The conditions were tricky with the rain and slippery roads. Crashing out of a week long race in the first 5km is not a risk you want to take when the later stages suit you better. That being said, Mekseb and Daniel were both very fast and smooth out on the course today and both did very good rides. We can be happy with our position going into the next 4 road stages.
