Highlights
Report
The Movistar Team savoured again the joy of success at the UCI WorldTour with the same rider who had conquered, back in 2020 at La Vuelta, the latest victory to date for the Telefónica-backed squad in cycling’s top tier: Marc Soler. The Catalan showed again his quality on day three of the 2021 Tour de Romandie, over a circuit in Estavayer (168km) with two Cat-3 climbs, the last of which witnessed the unstoppable final attack, under pouring rain, from the Vilanova native 10km before the end, which also gave him the yellow jersey as GC leader.
The Blue squad shone during the entire stage as Johan Jacobs made part of the early break -an escape which, split after the last series of climbs, was neutralized at Les Granges, with 12km to go-, as Soler waited until the last 500 meters uphill to launch a strong acceleration, which soon gave him about twenty seconds over Ion Izagirre (APT), later caught by the main field. The Spaniard kept that advantage until the very finish to notch up the Abarca Sports organisation’s fifth victory in 2021 -third with its men’s team- and his sixth in the UCI peloton (fifth since becoming a pro).
Soler now holds a 14″ advantage against INEOS Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte, heading into the Queen stage towards Thyon 2000, the race starting two hours earlier than initially scheduled to avoid extreme weather conditions and set to be, together with Sunday’s TT showdown in Fribourg, the biggest rival against the Movistar Team for the overall success.
Results
Stage
| 1 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | 3:58:35 |
| 2 | Magnus Cort (Den) EF Education-Nippo | 0:00:22 |
| 3 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
| 4 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious | |
| 5 | Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech | |
| 6 | Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
| 7 | Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM | |
| 8 | Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma | |
| 9 | Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech | |
| 10 | Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates |
General Classification
| 1 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | 12:38:40 |
| 2 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:00:14 |
| 3 | Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers | |
| 4 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious | |
| 5 | Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates | 0:00:16 |
| 6 | Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep | 0:00:20 |
| 7 | Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:00:21 |
| 8 | Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM | |
| 9 | Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma | |
| 10 | Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 0:00:24 |
Points
| 1 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious | 98 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | 70 |
| 3 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | 57 |
Mountains
| 1 | Joel Suter (Swi) Swiss National Team | 38 |
| 2 | Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team | 34 |
| 3 | Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | 26 |
Young Riders
| 1 | Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates | 12:38:56 |
| 2 | Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM | 0:00:05 |
| 3 | Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM | 0:00:10 |