• Tour of Romandie

Thomas storms to prologue win in Lausanne

ESPN staff
April 24, 2012
Geraint Thomas dons the yellow jersey © Getty Images
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Geraint Thomas was the surprise early leader at the Tour of Romandie after winning the time trial in Lausanne.

The Team Sky rider took full advantage of dry early conditions to set a leading time of three minutes 29.43 seconds over the 3.34km stage, finishing well clear of second-placed Giacomo Nizzolo and Mark Cavendish in third.

As the rain began to fall, the wet roads proved a hindrance to the likes of defending champion Cadel Evans and Thomas' team-mate Bradley Wiggins.

Wiggins, a general classification contender at the six-stage event, finished 11th fastest, nine seconds off the pace set by Thomas, while Cavendish was third, 6.13 seconds slower than the Welshman.

Fresh from his team pursuit gold medal at the Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne earlier this month, Thomas moved seamlessly back onto the road as he helped Team Sky make a bright start.

"It's a nice little win," Thomas said. "The team told me I was racing here about 10 days ago so it was great to come over. I always knew that I'd be up there. Fortunately with the weather conditions it played into my hands a bit but there was only really one corner. There's only so much time you can lose in one corner.

"For myself now it's purely a team role. I'll be there to help Cav in the sprints wherever they come and Bradley is going for the GC as well so I'll be there to help him wherever I can. Coming from the track I don't really have the climbing legs at the minute. I've been used to 4k the last couple of weeks with the track but we'll give it everything and see what happens."

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