Omar Fraile has just won first stage of this season’s Tour de Romandie giving another victory to his team Astana.
The Spaniard was able to overpass his competitors, especially former world champion Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida), by showcasing some impressive sprint skills.
“I am so happy with this win. After the Classics I did not feel great, but today everything went well and I managed to do a good stage,” Fraile said.
“In the final part of the stage I’ve realized our group can come to the finish for a sprint, so Dario Cataldo and Jakob Fuglsang worked hard to chase all attacks and to bring me in front.”
Matthews admitted that his team did a pretty amazing job when controlling the race. “Unfortunately when the hammer went down over the last climb I didn’t have the legs to go with it. Me, Simon and Louis tried to fight to get back but the gap was already too far and our chances were over,” he added.
Brief Tour de Romandie stage One Results
Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team-4:03:42
Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky
Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data
Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
Points after stage one
Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team -50 points
Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida-30
Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates-20
Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ-18
Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida-16
Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky-14
Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale-12
Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert-10
Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data-8
Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors-7
