The cyclists in the Tour de Romandie peloton continued through mountain territory in stage 3 of Tour de Romandie 2025. The 183.1-kilometer route started and ended in Cossonay and the riders would test their climbing skills on three Swiss Category 3 climbs and one Category 2 climb. 

The action in stage 3 of Tour de Romandie 2025 started early as multiple breakaway attempts were launched from the strung-out peloton. Riders were hoping to establish a lead before the Montcherand climb, which would be climbed after approximately ten kilometers and was of Category 3.

Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), and Huub Artz (Intermarche-Wanty) set out on an adventure, while being chased by a duo featuring Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who had taken longer to power up their breakaway engines.

Bayer and Zwiehoff were reeled in by the chasing peloton in which riders from EF Education-EasyPost, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Team PicNic-PostNL were doing the hard work at the front. Riders such as Julien Vermote, Romain Combaud, and yesterday’s breakaway hopeful Hugh Carthy were active at the front of the main peloton.

Artz, Mollema, and Küng fought hard in the front trio and had built an advantage of 05:30 minutes with 145 kilometers left of the stage. But three categorized climbs and initiatives from the general classification favorites were yet to challenge the breakaway hopefuls. 

The breakaway trio carried on in the following kilometers and maintained a significant lead in the following kilometers, despite conquering the Category 3 Cossonay climb on two occasions. The breakaway optimists had an advantage of 04:45 minutes when seventy kilometers remained of stage 3. The speed was high, and the main peloton was stretched out on the narrow and curvy country roads near Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

The front group approached the bottom of the Col du Mollendruz climb with a lead of 02:40 minutes over the main peloton, which was spearheaded by riders from Ineos-Grenadiers. The Category 2 climb featured an average gradient of 3.5 percent over fourteen kilometers, so it was not the steepest of climbs.

Küng first left his two other breakaway compatriots behind on the Mollendruz climb but was later joined by Artz. Mollema was chasing thirty seconds behind. The main peloton was spearheaded by riders from Team Picnic-PostNL, Bahrain Victorious, plus EF Education-EasyPost in support of their race leader Alex Baudin.

Swiss rider Küng set a fast and impressive continuous pace on the climb, which caused Artz to get dropped. Küng had an advantage of two minutes with 45 kilometers remaining of the stage. 

Noteworthily, the route would be mostly downhill from the summit of the climb, so the chances of taking a stage victory were increasing for the 31-year-old Groupama-FDJ rider, who had previously won stages in Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie, and Vuelta a Espana. 

While Mollema got swallowed by the chasing peloton, Küng reached the summit in solo fashion. Artz was forty seconds behind him at this point. 

Küng continued his ride towards the finish line in solo fashion. The time trial expert was an expert when it came to racing alone and the Swiss rider was doing everything possible to obtain the fastest possible descent, thereby hoping to keep Artz and the chasing peloton at bay.

Küng started showing signs of weakness when 25 kilometers remained. His lead had been reduced to one minute at this point in the stage, while the main peloton was stretched out and spearheaded by riders from Team Visma-Lease a Bike, Bahrain-Victorious, and Picnic-PostNL. 

Stefan Küng’s advantage was down to twenty seconds when fifteen kilometers remained. The riders in the main peloton were showing great willpower and it appeared the race winner would be found in the main peloton group.

Küng was caught by the chasers with eleven kilometers remaining.

Several teams were eager to position their stage win favorites and general classification favorites as well as possible at the front of the peloton. The speed was intense on the downhill section leading into the finish. Three kilometers remained. The stage would conclude with a short climb to the finish line in Cossonay.

Riders such as Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) were visible at the front with two kilometers to the finish.

Jay Vine attacked solo in the final kilometer and formed a gap. No other rider proved able to follow Vine. The Australian rider from UAE Team Emirates crossed the finish line in 04:03:35. Lenny Martinez finished second for Bahrain-Victorious two seconds later, while Joao Almeida completed the stage podium for UAE Team Emirates. Remco Evenepoel finished seventh.

“I took my moment to go and once I got to the corner, I was pretty happy because I knew it would be downhill to the finish from there,” stage winner Jay Vine told Roadcycling.com shortly after the finish. 

“It’s my first WorldTour win in a long time, so I’m very happy and my family is watching at home. Climbing day tomorrow and then a time trial on Sunday, which I am looking very much forward to. Then this year’s Giro d’Italia where I have big ambitions,” Vine explained.

“I missed a bit of the final punch in the end. It was difficult for me to do something because the teams worked so hard, so I just focused on staying with the other favorites,” Olympic Champion Remco Evenepoel told Roadcycling.com. 

Alex Baudin remains general classification leader for EF Education-EasyPost. The Frenchman still leads the race ahead of Junior Lecerf and Lennert van Eetvelt. Juan Pedro Lopez is fifth, Jay Vine sixth, Joao Almeida seventh, Lenny Martinez eighth, and Remco Evenepoel ninth.

The cyclists in the Tour de Romandie peloton will also have to test their legs in mountain territory in tomorrow’s stage 4 of Tour de Romandie 2025. Stage 4 will be the Queen Stage of the race, and the 128.4-kilometer route will start in Sion and end on Thyon 2000. The cyclists will test their climbing skills on five categorized climbs, including three Category 1 climbs and two Category 3 climbs.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from Tour de Romandie 2025 and the rest of the professional cycling season.