Shmidt sprints to third in Romandie

Artem Shmidt took his first WorldTour podium with a third place finish on stage one of Tour de Romandie.

Geraint Thomas put in a huge effort on the front as the peloton came into the finishing straight in Fribourg, with Matthew Brennan (Visma - Lease A Bike) launching his sprint to take the victory. Shmidt was hot on his wheel, and sprinted to third on the podium and moved up to fourth on the GC.

A flurry of early breaks saw five riders establish a four minute gap over the bunch, with the Grenadiers controlling much of the pace in the peloton.

With the break caught with 20km to go, having completed all three categorised climbs, a bunch sprint was inevitable on the flat finish to Fribourg.

Ben Swift came home 10th in the bunch sprint, while Sam Watson relinquished the yellow jersey, three seconds behind Brennan, to sit second on the GC going into Thursday’s stage.