Having broken his collarbone at the Strade Bianche, Riccardo Zoidl (Trek) returned to competition in the Tour de Romandie this week. Yesterday he proved that he is ready for his grand tour debut at the Giro when he finished 15th in the queen stage of his first ever WordTour race.

Riccardo Zoidl pedaled his own pace up the last mountain climb to finish in 15th place (+2’36”), a solid performance for his first race back with Trek Factory Racing after breaking his collarbone in March at Strade Bianche.  No one could match the speed of Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Simon Spilak (Katusha) on the last ascent of the day as the pair finished almost a minute in front of the first chasers. Spilak edged Froome out for the stage win.

“Riccardo lost a little in the last downhill,” explained director Alain Gallopin at the finish as he waited for the rest of the team to finish. “He had difficulty since it was wet, and he lost contact to the group of [Thibaut] Pinoit. It will be difficult for him to be top 10 now, but this is the first time he races at this [WorldTour] level, so it’s not a bad result at all. He did not race in the past two months and with more experience he will be better – there is no question he is a rider of the future.”

There was no hiding on the decisive stage three at the Tour of Romandie with four unforgiving mountain climbs in the 180.5- kilometer race totaling around 50 kilometers and 3,500 meters (11,500 feet) of climbing.  The weather also played a factor with cold, damp conditions over the top of each climb making for a numbing downhill each time.  Simply, it was a race of attrition.

Eight riders went up the road just after the start, but the climbing quickly sorted out the numbers in the breakaway, and after two of the mountains had passed only two riders remained at the fore.  They, too, would concede to the harsh terrain as behind the tough ascents also wreaked havoc on the peloton. By the bottom of the last climb around thirty riders remained, including Riccardo Zoidl.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) immediately set off at the bottom, and no one wanted, or could, match his early pace.  Eventually, Froome eased and Simon Spilak (Katusha) clawed his way up to him; the pair worked together over the top, down the wet, treacherous descent, to duel it out in a two-up sprint.  Spilak took the honors by less than a half a wheel, and also claimed the leader’s jersey by one second over Froome.

The rest of the team was in survival mode for the cold, harsh conditions of stage three, as tomorrow the focus will be back on Giacomo Nizzolo in the hope to better his third place stage finish yesterday.

“Everybody made it through today, which is good. They arrived in the final big group and they will be ready to work for Giacomo tomorrow in the sprint,” said Gallopin. "Tomorrow we will see - it will be a good chance for a stage victory, and that will be our goal."

The race concludes on Sunday with a time trial where Riccardo Zoidl will attempt to better his current 14th place in the overall.