“World champion Tadej Pogacar stamped his authority on the Tour de Romandie by sprinting to victory Wednesday’s opening full stage. The 27-year-old, who is competing at Romandie for the first time, started the day in sixth place after Tuesday’s short 3.2km prologue won by Frenchman Dorian Godon. But he moved into the lead in the overall standings after beating German Florian Lipowitz into second, with France’s Lenny Martinez third at the end of the 171.2km ride through Switzerland’s French-speaking region. Incredibly, it was Pogacar’s fifth victory in just seven days of racing this year, having won four of five one-day classics before heading to Romandie - including three of the four Monuments so far this season. This victory came just three days after Pogacar triumphed for the fourth time at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, winning the 13th Monument of his glory-laden career. This is one of two week-long stage races the Slovenian is competing in as his build up to a bid for a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title in July. In June he will race at the Tour de Suisse. He made his move halfway up the one major climb of the day, the 8.9km-long ascent to the village of Ovronnaz, with a tough average gradient of 9.8 percent. Only Bahrain Victorious rider Martinez was able to stay with Pogacar when he attacked, with still 38km to ride to the finish. Red Bull-Bora Hansgroher’s Lipowitz and Colombian Jefferson Cepeda climbed their way back up to the leading duo about two kilometres from the summit. Ceeda, though, then fell away and Norway’s Jorgen Nordhagen caught the trio at the front on the descent to the finish in the valley of Martigny. The four riders came to the line together, with UAE Team Emirates leader Pogacar easily distancing his rivals to win the sprint. Cepeda came home in a group of 13 riders 21 seconds back which included former Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana winner Primoz Roglic. Lipowitz moved into second overall at seven seconds, with Martinez third at 16sec and Nordhagen at 23sec. Today’s second stage is a lumpy 173.1km run from Rue to Vucherens which should suit breakaway specialists.
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