Frenchman Jonathan Hivert of Team Saur-Sojasun proved the strongest man in the uphill finish to the climax of today's third stage of the 2012 Tour de Romandie and Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky retained the overall race lead.

Hivert edged Team Movistar's Rui Costa on a narrow, curvy road to take the victory for his Pro Continental team in 03 hours, 48 minutes and 11 seconds. Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain was third in the same time for the 149.1 kilometer stage from Montbeliard in France to Moutier, Switzerland.

Today's breakaway group consisted of Danish rider Lars Bak of Team Lotto-Belisol and Christian Meyer of Team GreenEdge.

World Champion Mark Cavendish once again showed disappointing weakness as he slipped from the main peloton group when it reached the finishing climb after it had successfully reeled in Bak and Meyer.

Wiggins, who won yesterday's stage 2, retained his seven-second lead over Sky teammate Michael Rogers of Australia. Commenting on today's stage and his expectations Wiggins said "It's all about tomorrow when you are riding GC and we're taking it day by day. When I do race I race to win and that's very much the case here as I hope I showed yesterday."

Wiggins and the rest of the Sky team appears remarkably strong and are likely to dominate the remaining stages of this year's Tour de Romandie and prevent Team BMC Racing to repeat their overall victory again this year.

Commenting on Team BMC Racing's chances in the last three stages of the race Team BMC Racing sports director Rik Verbrugghe "The only thing to put Team Sky in difficulty is that we have numbers," Verbrugghe told Roadcycling.com "We have three guys - Cadel Evans, Steve (Morabito) and Tejay (van Garderen) - and also Johann Tschopp and Amaël Moinard for the mountain stages. The main goal is to put someone in the overall classification."

Friday's stage 3 is a 157.6 kilometer (98-mile) route starting in La Neuveville. The stage features two category 3 climbs, one category 2 climb, and concludes with a climb to the finish in Charmey. Expect a puncheur to win the stage unless a GC star or more decides to make a move in tomorrow's final climb.

Top 25 Tour de Romandie 2012 stage 2 results:
1 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur-Sojasun    03:48:11
2 Rui Costa (Por) Movistar Team
3 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
4 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
5 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Team Garmin-Barracuda
6 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Radioshack-Nissan
7 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre - ISD
8 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha Team
9 Allan Davis (Aus) GreenEdge Cycling Team
10 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana
11 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
12 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
13 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Sky Procycling
14 Mikel Landa (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
15 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha Team
16 Andrew Talansky (USA) Team Garmin-Barracuda
17 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
18 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre - ISD
19 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) Team BMC Racing
20 Kevin Reza (Fra) Team Europcar
21 Cyrille Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar
22 Daniel Martin (Irl) Team Garmin-Barracuda
23 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team
24 Steve Morabito (Swi) Team BMC Racing
25 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team

Top 25 Overall Tour de Romandie Rankings after stage 2:
1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky Procycling    08:42:02
2 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Sky Procycling 0:00:07
3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:09
4 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
5 Andrew Talansky (USA) Team Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:11
6 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
7 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
8 David Zabriskie (USA) Team Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:12
9 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha Team
10 Molina Ruben Plaza (Spa) Movistar Team
11 Rui Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:00:13
12 Tiago Machado (Por) Radioshack-Nissan
13 Steve Morabito (Swi) Team BMC Racing 0:00:14
14 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
15 Jerôme Coppel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:15
16 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
17 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) Team BMC Racing
18 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team 0:00:16
19 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Radioshack-Nissan
20 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Team Saxo Bank
21 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:18
22 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Radioshack-Nissan
23 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) Movistar Team
24 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
25 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Team Garmin-Barracuda