UAE Team Emirates win Tour of Romandie team classification
dubai — After six days of tough racing through the western mountains of Switzerland, the Tour de Romandie came to a close with a thrilling group sprint in Geneva, where Roberto Ferrari raced to a podium finish and helped UAE Team Emirates win its first Team Classification of the season.
The 72nd edition of the race, held in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, provided the team with a perfect platform to demonstrate what it is capable of, with a series of strong performances from the ‘Magnificent Seven’: Dan Marin, Rui Costa, Darwin Atapuma, Kristijan Durasek, Roberto Ferrari, Anass Ait El Abdia and Matteo Bono.
The first stage of the road race, a 166.6km course from Fribourg to Delémont, featured four categorized climbs and ended with a sprint finish that saw Costa clinch a well-earned third place behind stage winner Omar Fraile (Astana) and Sonny Colbrelli (BahrainMerida).
During the third stage, a gruelling 9.9km mountain time trial from Ollon to the mountain village of Villars, both Costa and Martin put in solid individual efforts, which were rewarded with fifth and eighth place, respectively. The stage was won by Team Sky’s Egan Bernal.
Costa continued his impressive run in the Queen Stage, a 149.2 loop starting and ending in Sion. The former World Champion went up the road with the breakaway and rode it to the finish, taking fourth spot behind Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Primoz Roglic (Lotto NL-Jumbo) and Egan Bernal (Team Sky).
In the fifth and final stage Robert Ferrari stepped up and showed what he was made of during a 181.8km route that featured three graded climbs and a flat finish along the shores of Lake Geneva.
His sprinting prowess shone though as he held off the bunch and crossed the line in third place, just behind Michael Morkov (Quick-Step Floors) and stage winner Pascal Ackermann (BORAhansgrohe).
Rui Costa, Daniel Martin and Kristijan Durasek closed out the GC in fifth, 10th and 15th, respectively.