Stage 2 of Tour de Romandie 2023 took the riders on a 162.7-kilometer journey from Morteau to La Chaux de Fonds. The route was through hilly terrain and featured three category 2 limbs and two category 3 climbs. 

A breakaway trio featuring Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Gleb Brussenskiy (Team Astana) and Tom Bohli (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) quickly formed and set out with high hopes of taking the stage victory. With 80 kilometers left of the stage, the trio had an advantage of 03:30 minutes.

35 kilometers from the finish the front trio had been reduced to a duo as Bohli had been dropped while the group approached the category 2 Col de la Tourne (4.4 km, 7.7%). The front group had a 30 second advantage. Meanwhile, in the main peloton the Jumbo-Visma, Soudal-QuickStep and Cofidis teams had moved to the front to set a fast pace.

On the Col de la Tourne the main peloton was spearheaded by the Jumbo-Visma team closely followed by UAE Team Emirates. A fast pace was set at the front, and it resulted in numerous riders being dropped. At this point less than half of the race participants remained in the peloton group.

On Le Communal Tejada attacked for Team Astana. Michael Woods countered for Israel-PremierTech and was joined by Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar) and Thomas Gloag (Team Jumbo-Visma).

The UAE Team Emirates riders closed the gap. Matteo Sobrero countered for Jayco-Alula, but in vain.

Bahrain-Victorious’ Gino Mäder attacked as the peloton reached the top of the climb but didn’t manage to open up a meaningful lead. 2.5 kilometers from the finish the front peloton group remained intact, and no riders had built a lead in an attack.

Team DSM’s Romain Bardet attacked and was followed by Ethan Hayter (Ineos-Grenadiers). 

Hayter won stage 2 of Tour de Romandie 2023 and was followed across the finish line by Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Bardet in third.

In the general classification Hayter took the race lead. Tobias Foss (Jumbo-Visma) is second and Remi Cavagna completes the podium for Soudal-QuickStep.