Tour de Romandie: Maikel Zijlaard wins prologue from early start on dry course

From the first 25 starters, Maikel Zijlaard of Tudor Pro Cycling Team set the best time and was in the hot seat with a 2:55 (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal-QuickStep challenged the best time with 2:57 (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

With rain beginning to fall, Ethan Hayter of Ineos Grenadiers slipped twice on the course and posted a time well off the lead (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Defending Romandie champion Adam Yates of UAE Team Emirates took a conservative approach to the prologue (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Dorian Godon of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale set the second-fastest time for the early starters (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Magnus Sheffield of Ineos Grenadiers on the 2.28km prologue course in Payerne (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Tao Geoghegan Hart of Lidl-Trek (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Aleksandr Vlasov of Bora-Hansgrohe (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Australian ITT champion Luke Plapp of Jayco AlUla (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Ecuador's ITT champion Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Tim Van Dijke of Visma-Lease a Bike was among the early finishers with a fast time of 2:58 (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

The final rider on the course was USA's Brandon Mcnulty of UAE Team Emirates (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Dutch rider Maikel Zijlaard of Tudor Pro Cycling Team celebrates at podium as prologue winner (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling) celebrates as Yellow Leader Jersey winner after the prologue victory (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Tudor Pro Cycling's Maikel Zijlaard put in the best performance of his career, powering to his first WorldTour victory in the 2.3km prologue of the Tour de Romandie.

Zijlaard started early in the day before intermittent drizzle made the city circuit in Payern treacherous. 

Australian Cameron Scott (Bahrain Victorious), one of the last riders to start, managed to keep the bike upright and come within a second of the Dutchman but was unable to kick him out of the hot seat.

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep) finished third just over two seconds behind Zijlaard.

Zijlaard's previous best result this year was seventh place at Nokere Koerse and he surpassed his expectations with the victory.

"It's crazy - I can't believe it," he said. "I started quite early, and the last two hours have been the worst two hours of my life because of the stress. I wanted this so much for myself for the team. It's super nice to show that we are capable of doing stuff like this and it's a super team.

"I know I'm quite good at this stuff, so I was going in here with a goal which was the prologue. It's quite hard to believe but it's reality and I'm really happy.

"I don't really have the words. To win here in my first road to victory for a Swiss team in Switzerland - it's a bit of a dream."

How it unfolded

Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling), nephew to ex-pros Michael and Leontin Zijlaard Van Moorsel, set the fastest early time, eclipsing the likes of Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) in the violent 2.3 kilometre prologue.

Zijlaard went three seconds quicker than early starter Dorion Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and withstood a huge effort from Julian Alaphillippe (Soudal-Quickstep), who went 2.3 seconds slower.

Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) was keen to try to win the prologue but almost crashed twice and lost all chances before the line, coming just 15 seconds shy after coming to a near stop.

A bit of drizzle fell on the later starters, making the twisting, turning course in Payern slippery and forcing riders to take caution, but Cameron Scott (Bahrain-Victorious) managed to come within one second of Zijlaard's time, pushing Alaphilippe into third.

Of the overall contenders, Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ayuso finished six to seven seconds down, defending Tour de Romandie champion Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) was eight seconds down, Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) at nine seconds, with the rest over 10 seconds behind.

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