Ivo Oliveira impresses in Romandie prologue

Ivo Oliveira put in a fast ride against the clock in a short but technical prologue around Payerne (2.8km) at the Tour de Romandie today in Switzerland to take 5th place.

The Portuguese national TT champion clocked a time of 2:58, just 3” shy of stage winner Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor), with an average pace of 46.1kmph.

Oliveira : “I’m happy – I gave everything I had. I’ve been training a lot for this, I took 5th and I gave it my all. I did the recon with the normal bike and also with the TT bike so I felt more comfortable on the TT bike. It was always going to be very close on such a short course and in the end it was just a matter of seconds. No regrets though, I gave it my all and now we focus on the GC with our climbers.”

Tomorrow will be the first undulating road stage from Château d’Oex to Fribourg(165.7km).

Prologue results

1.Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor) 2:55

2.Cameron Scott (Bahrain Victorious) +1”

3.Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quickstep) +2”

5.Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) +5”