What a stunt! Maikel Zijlaard races to first professional victory in the Tour de Romandie prologue

Maikel Zijlaard provided a resounding surprise in the prologue of the Tour de Romandie. The Dutchman from Tudor stayed ahead of many big names in the very technical and short time trial of 2.28 kilometers. The equally surprising Cameron Scott finished second, Julian Alaphilippe came third. Zijlaard can also put on the first leader’s jersey.

There are no longer many prologues in contemporary cycling, but the Tour de Romandie faithfully adheres to them. On the opening day, an individual race against the clock of exactly 2.28 kilometers was on the program in Payerne, located in the canton of Vaud and home base for the Swiss air force. It became a technical exercise for the riders, because there are thirteen right-angled bends and a chicane along the way. A prologue for the explosive men and the daredevils.

Zijlaard with the first target time
Luca Jenni, a relatively unknown rider on behalf of the Swiss selection, was the first to leave the starting podium at 2:50 p.m. However, the 21-year-old driver would not set a serious target time. This is in contrast to Maikel Zijlaard. The 24-year-old Dutchman – who plays for the Swiss Tudor – managed to record a final time of 2:55 at the finish, good for an average speed of 45.146 km/h. This made him three seconds faster than Dorian Godon and Tim van Dijke.

Godon and Van Dijke were not the only riders who cut their teeth on Zijlaard’s time. Ranking men such as Enric Mas (3:01), Lenny Martinez (3:02), Juan Ayuso (3:02) and Aleksandr Vlasov (3:03) also had to give up time at the finish. This was also the reality for recognized speed riders such as Benjamin Thomas (3:01), Jan Tratnik (3:02) and Magnus Sheffield (3:02). In other words: Zijlaard could tentatively start dreaming of a very nice ranking.

Strong time from Alaphilippe, stunt in the making
Most riders started on a normal road bike, given the short distance and the technical DNA of this prologue. We saw quite a few big names in action in a short period of time, but no rider came even close to Zijlaard’s great time. Julian Alaphilippe did very well, but the French former world champion of Soudal Quick-Step was still stuck in provisional second place, two seconds behind the Dutchman.

On paper, Ethan Hayter seemed to be one of Zijlaard’s biggest challengers, but the Briton stranded fifteen seconds behind Zijlaard after a costly steering error. The latter had been on the hot seat for a long time, but still had to bite his nails, as quite a few riders still had to enter. However, the later starters proved unable to come close to the best time. The relatively unknown Swiss Antoine Aebi managed to sneak into the top 10, but could not really threaten Zijlaard.

Scott just misses the mark, Zijlaard records a sensational victory
However, the devil was still in the tail for Zijlaard, because with Jonathan Castroviejo, Simon Yates, Josef Cerny and Brandon McNulty, a few top players still had to take action. However, it was Cameron Scott who managed to provide the surprise. The Australian from Bahrain Victorious even came within a second of Zijlaard, but turned out to be just a bit slower.

After that, there were two more riders who posed a threat to Zijlaard. Cerny, winner of the prologue last year, however, finished at just over four seconds. And McNulty? The American started last, but had not saved the best for last. He finished no less than eleven seconds and finished in the middle of the pack. And with that, Zijlaard’s first real professional victory was a fact.

Scott surprisingly finished second, Alaphilippe came third. For Zijlaard it does not stop at ‘just’ a stage victory, as he will also start as leader tomorrow on the first stage-in-line from Château d’Oex to Fribourg.