Egan Bernal time-trials to victory on stage three at the Tour de Romandie

Colombian Egan Bernal time-trialed to victory on stage three of Tour de Romandie in Villars today

While last year’s race saw the individual time trial decide the general classification on the last day, this year the race against the clock was held on the fourth day of competition. The 9.9km-long course from Ollon to Villars was a continuously uphill Category 1 climb, which led each of the riders over 800 metres of elevation. Today’s stage was the second race against the clock to be featured in this year’s Tour de Romandie, however this stage was expected to see larger time gaps appear in the general classification than those which were produced by the Prologue on the first day of racing.

The course, which was anything but flat, with an average gradient of around 8 per cent which ramped up to 11 per cent in some sections, put the riders under constant pressure.

The Team Sky rider completed the 9.9km individual race against the clock in 25:11 ahead of Slovenian Primoz Roglic and Australian Richie Porte.

Roglic, who rides for LottoNL-Jumbo, retains the overall lead in 8:39:39. He is followed by Bernal and Porte (BMC Racing).

Tomorrow's Queen stage of the Tour de Romandie is a very hilly 149.2 km course with 3,584 m of climbing with three first category and two second category climbs.

VIDEO: 2018 Tour de Romandie Stage 3 Highlights

2018 Tour de Romandie Stage 3 Top 10

1. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky 25:11
2. Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo +00:04
3. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team +00:18
4. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo +0:00:48
5. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates +01:06
6. Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale +01:21
7. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team +01:25
8. Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates +01:28
9. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe +01:30
10. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin +01:43

2018 Tour de Romandie GC after Stage 3

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 8:39:39
2. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky +00:06
3. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team +00:27
4. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo +01:02
5. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates +01:17
6. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team +01:22
7. Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
8. Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates +01:42
9. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
10. Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida +01:55