TOUR DE ROMANDIE 2015 STARTS IN 11 DAYS / 709.6 km with a total of 10,081 metres of climbs and descents A highly anticipated face-off between Froome, Nibali and Quintana. However are Péraud, Pinot, Costa, Spilak, Uran, Frank, Bardet and the rest also ready to fight for the lead? This edition will be the setting for the only pre-Tour de France duel between the two 2015 favourites Froome and Quintana. At the start will also be the winning trio of the 2014 Tour de France Nibali-Péraud-Pinot! A concentrated grand tour, starting with a team time trial, the race through Romandie will serve up a platter of champions! Will it be a hat trick for Chris? Lausanne, 17 April 2015 / The sharpest observers wasted no time noting that the Tour de Romandie 2015 from 28 April to 3 May will be the setting for the only pre-Tour de France confrontation between Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana and will also gather the podium finishers of the 2014 Tour de France: Nibali, Péraud and Pinot. A unique duel between the two phenomena at the top of this year’s list of favourites. The British rider, double winner of the TdR 2013 and 2014, who also wore the yellow jersey on the Champs Elysées two years ago, will do all he can to maintain this momentum in Romandie. As for the Columbian prodigy, he will do everything he can to intimidate Froome, Nibali and the others. A three-part match: starting with the team time trial (a speciality also featuring on the TdF menu this year), then the mountain stage to Champex-Lac, and finishing with the final time trial through Lausanne. Other champions will be there to determine the duel: podium regulars such as Simon Spilak (TdR 2010, 2nd in 2012 and 2013), Rui Costa (3rd for the past three years), Mathias Frank or even Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet. And anyone who manages to finish in Lausanne ahead of Froome and Quintana will be on a high for the whole season! The Tour de Romandie is a WorldTour event and a compulsory stage for the best 17 world teams. This year they will be joined by the Europcar pro continental team thanks to a wildcard! New crack cyclists will thus be lining up to get a spot on the podium, like Rigoberto Uran, 3rd in the Tirreno-Adriatico, or even Simon Yates and Stefan Kung who is being hyped up by specialists as the new Cancellara. The Swiss and Romand audience will be following the progress of the Swiss IAM Cycling team in particular, with Mathias Frank, who finished 4th last year, aiming for the top three this year, or Jonathan Fumeaux. And let’s not forget Steve Morabito, now racing with Française des Jeux. The biggest of the small tours in terms of TV coverage The sporting appeal of the Romandie race and its success are also translated by its impact in terms of television coverage. Did you know that after the Tour de France, the Giro and the Vuelta, the TdR could well be the next most followed stage event in the world? The TV rights for the splendid images produced by RTS are, of course, bought by channels all over Europe, including 7 public channels, but also in India and in Asia, including China (for a total of some 200 TV channels). These figures have not escaped the attention of La Vaudoise, presenting sponsor, Raiffeisen, Le Gruyère AOP, PMU, and Chicco D’Oro as official sponsors, and other sponsors Europcar, Tissot watches, Faucherre, UPC-Cablecom, Yamaha, and finally co-sponsors BMC, Jacot Chocolatier, New Work, Prodis and Swissgeo. Along with RTS, as official TV partner, and media partners APG/SGA, e-novinfo, Le Matin, and La Première, not forgetting the six French- speaking cantons and Berne. We can also add to this list Isover Saint-Gobin,for the securing the race obstacles, the Romandie Fire Brigade and, finally, UPC-Cablecom who will provide mobile phone and internet access at all key points during the Tour. Helping the audience: an application to experience the whole TdR without missing any news With the aim of lining the roadsides with even more people, the TdR organisation is rolling our several new features. The first is making video available of each stage, filmed by the safety manager during their reconnaissance, so as to enable the teams as well as the public to review the specific features and the beauty of each part of the race. The second is pocket-sized: the Maxi-Card, with a mini-format but a maximum of content, featuring a map of the Tour, stage profiles and schedules, team lists, leader jerseys, sponsors, etc. And like in previous years, the race begins well before 28 April. On the www.tourderomandie.ch website and on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube), where TdR fever has already been mounting for several weeks, particularly since the confirmation of the Froome-Quintana duel, French-speaking Switzerland and the Jura region, celebrated this year, will be the kingdom of cycling. The iPhone and Android application offers news flashes updated every 2 minutes during stages, live race action thanks to GPS, detailed routes, profiles and 3D films of each stage, as well as the results, complete rankings and leader jerseys. A real plus for all fans of cycling and the Tour de Romandie who want to stay ahead of the peloton. We’ll see you in eleven days! TdR Press Department G. Sammali +41 (0)79 842 16 70 The Tour de Romandie 2015 in brief: 709.6 km with 10,081 metres of climbs and descents: 28 April: Team time trial Vallée de Joux — Juraparc, 19.2 km 29 April: Apples — Saint-Imier, 168.1 km 30 April: Moutier — Porrentruy, 172.5 km 1 May: La Neuveville — Fribourg, 169.8 km 2 May: Fribourg — Champex-Lac, 162.7 km 3 May: Individual time trial, Lausanne, 17.3 km .