Michael Matthews (Sunweb) won stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie after pipping Tom Bohli (BMC Racing) and Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) in the testing 4km time trial in Fribourg. The surprising Bohli spent much of the afternoon in the hot seat after setting the quickest mark early on, and his closest challenger was his teammate Rohan Dennis, who finished just fractions of a second outside his time, good enough for fourth place come the end of the day. Bohli was ultimately denied the biggest win of his career by Matthews, who delivered a perfectly-timed effort on the stiff climb to the finish to come home a second inside the Swiss rider’s mark.ADVERTISEMENT “It was a little bit of a surprise because I didn’t have such a good day in Liege on Sunday,” said Matthews. “I had one easy day yesterday and then straight back into it today. I didn’t know how my legs were going to feel but I just gave it my best and it was enough to win.” It was Matthews’ maiden victory of a 2018 campaign that began on a trying note when he fractured his shoulder in his first race, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The Australian returned in time to place seventh at Milan-San Remo and battle in the cobbled Classics, but he endured further ill fortune when a late puncture ended his challenge at Amstel Gold Race. A fine fifth place at Flèche Wallonne last week suggested that Matthews had hit something approaching top form, although he was some nine minutes off the pace in the finale of a tough Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday. GC battle
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