Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) has today secured his first victory of the season at the Tour de Romandie’s opening 4-kilometre prologue in Fribourg, with a winning time of five minutes and 33 seconds.
The Australian edged out home rider Tom Bohli (BMC Racing Team) by just one second with Itzulia Basque Country winner Primoz Roglic (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) in third and Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) in fourth also one second down.
Speaking of the win Matthews said: “I had a rocky start to the season and things were difficult with my broken shoulder but I finally feel like things are on the up again. I didn’t know how well I would feel after the weekend but I gave my best and I’m really pleased that I could finish it off with the win.
“It was a beautiful course and I had a lot of fun out there today; I really enjoy TT’s, especially ones like these where I can use my power. Tonight we’ll just enjoy this win and tomorrow we’ll focus on what we’re going to do next.”
Team Sunweb coach Tom Veelers added: “It was a well deserved win after a period of bad luck in the opening parts of the season. After a recon and analysis from our scientific expert we had a specific, solid plan of how to tackle the course. Michael was technically good on the corners and strong on the climbs and was really determined to take the win today. This is a great boost for morale and a good opening to our Tour de Romandie. In the coming days we will continue to search for results with the strong team that we have here.”
