From the 28th of April until the 3rd of May the 69th edition of the Tour de Romandie takes place.

For Lotto Soudal, Jurgen Van den Broeck and Maxime Monfort will start in Switzerland, for them it’s the last straight line to the Giro. They will race against last year’s winner Chris Froome. Other GC riders are Rafal Majka, Thibaut Pinot, Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana. There are also some time trial specialists on the start list, like Rohan Dennis, Tony Martin and Anton Vorobyev.

“Jurgen Van den Broeck and Maxime Monfort are the GC riders in our selection. We aim for a place in top ten with at least one of them," sports director Frederik Willems said. "The team time trial on the first day will be mentally important. We won’t be looking at the ranking but especially at the time difference with other GC riders. The stage takes place around a lake and is not technical, the last kilometres are slightly uphill at a maximal gradient of 4.5%.

"On Saturday it’s the queen stage with four climbs of first category. That will be a crucial day. In the time trial on Sunday Maxime and Jurgen will have to defend their position in GC. The course is a bit hilly and suits them both.

“It will be difficult to get a pure bunch sprint next week. In each stage there are climbs and there’s always a chance a breakaway survives. I expect a selection each day and a maximum of eighty riders that go to the finish. When there is a sprint Tosh Van der Sande is our man. Sander Armée and Bart De Clercq can join a breakaway, they are able to stay in front till the finish.”

Selection Lotto Soudal: 

Sander Armée, Stig Broeckx, Bart De Clercq, Greg Henderson, Maxime Monfort, Jurgen Van den Broeck,  Tosh Van der Sande and Dennis Vanendert.