Juan Ayuso wins stage 3 time trial and takes overall lead

American Matteo Jorgenson of Movistar was second at five seconds while Ayuso's British teammate Adam Yates was third at 17sec

Talented young Spaniard Juan Ayuso has blasted to victory in the Tour de Romandie’s stage 3, an 18.8-kilometre individual time trial, and moved into the overall lead.

But come what may, for the young Spaniard, the result is a massive morale boost after a difficult first third of the season where a niggling nerve injury in one leg has kept him out of racing for months.

“I’m starting to suffer a lot, and I feel like my form is still not there. But I'll be happy if I keep improving every day, even if my sensations are that I’m on the limit.”

“I went out full gas because I knew I had a good time in the intermediate, I was close [to the best], so I knew if I took some risks, I could maybe get the win.”

Ayuso now leads Romandie into its crunch 161 kilometres climbing stage on Saturday with an 18-second advantage on Jorgenson and a 19-second advantage over Foss. 

French climber Romain Bardet had a disappointing day dropping 57sec on the winner, while 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal dropped 59sec as he struggles for full fitness.

Foss and prologue winner Josef Cerny set the early pace with Foss ending 25sec down in eighth.

The once mighty Chris Froome, a four time Tour de France winner, finished 3min 19sec down as he seeks a start place on the Israel Premier Tech team for the Tour de rance

After Saturday's likely decisive stage, it remains to be seen how Ayuso will handle the final mammoth 20.7-kilometre ascent to Thyon 2000, but after defying expectations with this spectacular comeback victory, for the young Spaniard, any success in Romandie from hereon will surely feel like the cherry on top of an already impressively very large cake.

Sunday's finale is a 170km run to Geneva over two categorised climbs.

VIDEO: 2023 Tour de Romandie Stage 3 Highlights

2023 Tour de Romandie Stage 3 final Top 10

1  AYUSO Juan UAE Team Emirates 25:15
2  JORGENSON Matteo Movistar Team 0:05
3  YATES Adam UAE Team Emirates 0:17
4  OLIVEIRA Nelson Movistar Team 0:18
5  BARTA Will Movistar Team 0:19
6  CARUSO Damiano Bahrain - Victorious 0:20
7  BJERG Mikkel UAE Team Emirates 0:24
8  FOSS Tobias Jumbo-Visma 0:24
9  MÄDER Gino Bahrain - Victorious 0:25
10  POOLE Max Team DSM 0:27

2023 Tour de Romandie GC after Stage 3

1  AYUSO Juan UAE Team Emirates 8:33:40
2  JORGENSON Matteo Movistar Team 0:18
3  FOSS Tobias Jumbo-Visma 0:19
4  OLIVEIRA Nelson Movistar Team 0:22
5  YATES Adam UAE Team Emirates 0:30
6  CARUSO Damiano Bahrain - Victorious 0:32
7  FISHER-BLACK Finn UAE Team Emirates 0:34
8  CASTROVIEJO Jonathan INEOS Grenadiers 0:36
9  POOLE Max Team DSM 0:37
10  HAYTER Ethan INEOS Grenadiers 0:38