Tadej Pogačar took control of the 2026 Tour de Romandie on stage 1, winning the opening road stage from Martigny to Martigny after splitting the race on the day’s main climb and then finishing the job in a reduced sprint. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider beat Florian Lipowitz and Lenny Martinez from a four-rider move to claim both the stage and the overall lead.
The 171.2km stage had been the first real climbing test of the week, with the category 1 ascent of Ovronnaz always likely to shape the outcome. That proved exactly where the race changed. Pogačar, sixth in the prologue the day before, used the climb to force the decisive selection and then carried that advantage all the way back to Martigny.
The break goes clear before the favourites take over
The day began with an early move establishing itself up the road, with Sam Oomen among those in the breakaway, while Ineos Grenadiers, protecting prologue winner Dorian Godon, did much of the early work on the front of the peloton.
For a long stretch the stage followed a familiar pattern. The break held its place, the bunch kept things measured, and the bigger teams waited for the climbing to begin properly. As the race moved closer to Ovronnaz, UAE Team Emirates-XRG increasingly took over the pace setting. That was the clearest sign that Pogačar and his team wanted more than a controlled day.
Ovronnaz creates the winning move
Once the race hit the climb to Ovronnaz, the shape of the stage changed quickly. Pogačar attacked hard enough to reduce the group of contenders to only a handful of riders. Rather than going alone immediately, he found himself in a select move of four.
That group proved to be the winning move. They stayed clear over the top and on the run back towards Martigny, with the rest unable to reorganise well enough behind. By the time they reached the finish, the stage win was always going to come from that leading quartet.
Pogačar finishes it off in Martigny
In the final sprint, Pogačar still had the strength to complete the move he had started on the climb. He beat Florian Lipowitz into second, with Lenny Martinez taking third after all three had survived the decisive selection and the run-in to the line.
It was a controlled, confident finish from Pogačar. He had forced the split at the key moment, stayed in the strongest group, and then proved fastest when the stage victory was on the line.
Godon’s spell in yellow lasts a day
For Dorian Godon, stage 1 was always going to be a far tougher test than the short prologue that had put him in the leader’s jersey. Ineos Grenadiers worked to defend the race lead, but once the climbing began in earnest and Pogačar accelerated, the balance of the race shifted.
That meant Godon’s time in yellow lasted only a day. Pogačar overturned the seven-second deficit he carried into the stage and left Martigny not only with the stage win, but also with control of the general classification.
Men’s Tour de Romandie 2026 Stage 1 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
