the 2nd stage and the yellow jersey for Ethan Hayter on the Tour de Romandie, Bardet finishes 3rd

Ethan Hayter FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

Briton Ethan Hayter took the yellow jersey of the Tour de Romandie thanks to his sprint victory in the very hilly second stage (162.7 km) on Thursday, between Morteau and La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Ineos runner beat the Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE) and Romain Bardet (DSM). Like the day before, the French surprised by inviting himself into a m***ive sprint, he who is rather expected in the big mountain stage on Saturday.

Overall, Hayter is six seconds ahead of Norwegian Tobias Foss (Jumbo-Visma) and Frenchman Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step). “I was on the limit on the last climb. It was a good sprint. I have to thank my team. It’s going to be good to do the time (note: Friday’s time trial) with this leader’s jersey, “reacted Hayter at the microphone of the L’Équipe Channel.

For his part, Bardet said he had “a little fun in the sprint”. “It’s good to do different things. I did not pretend to beat Hayter in the sprint. It’s for the record,” added the Frenchman, who however repositioned himself well in 7th place overall, 17 seconds from the lead. After a start from Morteau in France and a relatively flat start to the stage, the peloton had five second or third category p***es to cross in about a hundred kilometers this Thursday.

Three runners, the French Julien Bernard, the Kazakh Gleb Brussenskiy and the Swiss Tom Bohli escaped from the first kilometers. Bernard, already in sight during the first stage, took the lead ahead of his breakaway companions at B***et (2nd category), Communal (3rd category) and Col de la Vue des Alpes (2nd category). Enough to earn points for the cl***ification of the mountain of which he is the leader. But the three men were eventually recaptured.

The Col de la Tourne (2nd category, 4.4 kilometers at 7.1% average) did damage to the image of the yellow jersey, Ethan Vernon, dropped at the start of the ascent. Ten kilometers from the finish, the peloton attacked a second p***age of the Communal, where the Briton Adam Yates p***ed the first in front of Bardet. In the last kilometers, several riders, including the Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, tried in vain to get out of the peloton, but the victory was finally settled in the sprint in favor of Hayter.

Friday’s stage is an 18.8 kilometer time trial around Châtel-Saint-Denis, before an explanation in the mountains on Saturday between Sion and Thyon 2000.