Stage 3 offered a small foretaste of the Tour de Romandie's queen stage the following day. The finale of the 183-kilometre stage with start and finish in Cossonay featured a mini mountain finish over two kilometres with an average gradient of 5.7 per cent. An arrival for Puncheur, who ultimately beat Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) won. The Australian attacked early 800 metres before the finish and could not be caught afterwards.
Two seconds behind the winner, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious) finished second in the sprint of a larger group ahead of Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), who made up four seconds time bonus on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step). The Belgian Evenepoel finished in seventh place. Emanuel Buchmann (Cofidis) also reached the finish with this group and took 17th place.
In the overall standings, Alex Baudin (EF Education First - EasyPost) took the yellow jersey, which he wore for the first time during the stage. The Frenchman arrived with the group of favourites. Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) also remained at the top of the mountain classification.
Tour de Romandie 2025 - Stage 3 results
Stage 3: Cossonay - Cossonay
Tour de Romandie 2025: Stage 3, Cossonay - Cossonay
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | 04:03:35 |
| 2 | Bahrain - Victorious | +00:00:02 |
| 3 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | +00:00:02 |
| 4 | Intermarché - Wanty | +00:00:02 |
| 5 | XDS Astana Team | +00:00:02 |
| 6 | Movistar Team | +00:00:02 |
How the 3rd stage of the Tour de Romandie 2025 went
The stage certainly offered opportunities for breakaways, and accordingly there were prominent names in the day's leading group: the Swiss Stefan Küng (Groupama - FDJ), Bauke Mollema (Lidl - Trek) and the young Dutchman Huub Arzt (Intermarché - Wanty). The Austrian Tobias Bayer (Alpecin - Deceuninck) and the leader of the mountain classification, Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) from Essen, were briefly in the chase, but had to abandon their endeavour soon after.
The peloton led by EF Education First - EasyPost and rider Alex Baudin gave the leading trio a comfortable lead of over six minutes. The stage took place over several loops around the start and finish town of Cossonay, meaning that the riders had already tackled the final mountain finish twice beforehand after 54 and 107 kilometres. Küng secured the mountain points (3rd category) on the short climb there.
Küng tries his luck as a soloist
The most difficult obstacle of the stage was the Col de Mollendruz (2nd category) in the last third of the race, whose ascent stretched over 14 kilometres but was only 3.5 per cent steep on average. Küng proved to be the strongest climber from the leading trio, who first shook off Mollema and later Arzt by stepping up the pace. At the summit, 40 kilometres before the finish, Küng still had a lead of two minutes.
However, there were several teams in the peloton that were interested in the chase, including Bahrain Victorious, Picnic - PostNL and Visma | Lease a Bike. The terrain remained completely flat until the finish, which no longer played into the hands of time trial specialist Küng after the long breakaway. In addition, the efforts of the peloton were too great for the Swiss rider to catch up again. Küng was dropped ten kilometres before the finish. However, the final climb proved too difficult for strong sprinters like Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike). Instead, the classification riders decided the day's victory among themselves.
