Following yesterday’s fast sprint finish in Fribourg, Tour de Romandie entered serious mountain territory for stage 2 – a 157-kilometer roundtrip from La Grande Beroche and back. Race organizers handed the riders in the Tour of Romandy peloton the opportunity to test their climbing legs on four categorized climbs – including Col de la Tourne (Category 2), Mauborget (Category 2), Les Grattes (Category 3), and Chaumont (Category 2). The general classification favorites were expected to use the opportunity to their advantage.

It did not take many kilometers of racing before attacks were launched in stage 2 of Tour de Romandie 2025. Riders used the Col de la Tourne (Category 2) as launchpad for their breakaway attempts. 

While riders including Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Asbjorn Hellemose (Jayco-Alula), Remy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), and Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea B & B Hotels) accelerated in attacking efforts at the front of the race, early race leaders Samuel Watson (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Matthew Brennan (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) got dropped from the main peloton on the climb.

Hugh Carthy eventually left the other breakaway optimists behind and carried on solo. But perhaps he would rejoin forces with the chase trio of Ben Zwiehoff, Julien Bernard, and Raul Garcia Pierna on the descents and flat stretches that would follow in between the climbing challenges.

Zwiehoff, Bernard, and Garcia made the leap to Carthy, while Welay Hagos Berhe also bridged the gap to the front riders in a flat section, after having chased between groups for a long time. The quintet carried on and had an advantage of 01:30 minutes with 115 kilometers remaining. At this point, the riders were approaching the summit of the Mauborget climb.

The front quintet had a lead of 01:45 minutes over the main peloton with eighty kilometers left of the battle towards the finish line in La Grande Beroche. Riders from Soudal-QuickStep were spearheading the peloton and doing most of the chase work in support of their team leader Remco Evenepoel. Did the Belgian Olympic Champion had a great master plan that he would reveal later in the stage?

Hugh Carthy and Julien Bernard left the other breakaway companions behind on Les Grattes as Zwiehoff, Berhe, and Garcia were unable to keep up with the fast-climbing pace set by the tall and skinny rider from Great Britain who was known for his great climbing skills but had not won a race since 2021. Frenchman Bernard had been showing promising form in recent races and his Lidl-Trek team was expecting noteworthy results from him this season.

Soudal-QuickStep riders were still leading the main peloton while being under close observation from Visma-Lease a Bike riders on their tail.

The riders were now approaching the Chaumont climb, which was the final categorized climb of the day. The Category 2 climb had an average gradient of no less than 11.9 percent and this ramp would likely be used for attacking purposes by general classification favorites in the main peloton. 

Frontmen Carthy and Bernard were working hard to maintain or even increase their advantage over the main peloton before the climb. Fifty kilometers remained and the reduced peloton group was 01:30 minutes behind the front duo. A second peloton group featuring race leader Matthew Brennan had been formed further behind.

Decathlon-AG2R riders joined Soudal-QuickStep workers at the front of the reduced main peloton. Meanwhile, Carthy proved stronger than Bernard on the steep Chaumont climb and the Frenchman got dropped – despite the French name of the climb. 

UAE Team Emirates riders joined the front of the reduced peloton, which caused additional riders to get left behind on the climb.

Great Britain’s Hugh Carthy proudly reached the summit of the Chaumont climb in solo fashion. What an impressive performance. Unfortunately for Carthy, however, the chasing favorites peloton was closing in on him and caught him on the descent.

Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek) counterattacked on the descent and built a lead of fourteen seconds as the riders approached the Neuchatel Lake and were forty kilometers from the finish line.

The fast descent appeared beneficial for the front duo, but the two breakaway optimists were caught with 32 kilometers left. A group featuring approximately eighteen riders now pressed on towards the finish line. The new front group featured prominent riders such as Remco Evenepoel, Jay Vine, Carlos Rodriguez, Joao Almeida, Leny Martinez, Cristian Rodriguez, and Lennert van Eetvelt. 

Alex Baudin was also in the front group and the French EF Education-EasyPost rider decided to launch a solo attack. Junior Lecerf and Juan Pedro Lopez joined the Frenchman at the front of the race. Lorenzo Fortunato and Lennert van Eetvelt later joined the front trio.

The front quintet had fought its way to a lead of almost a minute with 22 kilometers left. The chase group featured riders such as Evenepoel, Carlos Rodriguez, Cristian Rodriguez, Vine, Almeida, Eddie Dunbar, Eddie Dunbar, and Oscar Onley. The riders in the chase group appeared unable to agree on tactics for the stage finale. The disagreement caused the advantage of the front quintet to grow to 01:15 minutes.

The riders entered the final ten kilometers and were slowly approaching the finish line. The quintet had a lead of 01:30 minutes and it appeared the stage would be decided in a sprint between the riders in the front group. The group did not feature any obvious sprint aces as the riders mainly possessed other qualities.

The riders in the front quintet were still together at the five kilometers point. The riders were closely monitoring each other while trying to predict any attacks from their competitors. This was a great opportunity for the riders to take a noteworthy stage victory.

Lorenzo Fortunato launched his attack with 1.1 kilometers remaining. The other four riders were each waiting for other riders to respond, with no one willing to do so. Fortunato continued to increase his lead all the way to the finish line and won stage 2 in solo fashion. Alex Baudin won the sprint between the four chasers, while Junior Lecerf completed the stage podium. 

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

The cyclists in the Tour de Romandie peloton will continue through mountain territory in tomorrow’s stage 3 of Tour de Romandie 2025. The 183.1-kilometer route will start and end in Cossonay and the riders will test their climbing skills on three Swiss Category 3 climbs and one Category 2 climb.

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