Godon avoids another Pogacar sprint surprise to seal comeback win on Romandie stage 3

Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) sprinted to victory on stage 3 of the Tour de Romandie in Orbe, having initially been distanced from the peloton. 

Godon was distanced on the category two Col du Mollendruz inside the final 40km as the peloton thinned in size, but the French champion managed to return on the descent with just over 20km remaining, along with two Ineos teammates. 

The final riders from the day’s seven-man breakaway, Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), Steff Cras (Soudal Quick-Step) and Georg Steinhauser (EF) were caught by the chasing peloton with 3km remaining.

It was a fine team performance with Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) turning into a lead-out rider inside the final kilometre, setting up Godon for victory ahead of Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step).

For Godon, this marks his second victory of this edition of the Tour de Romandie and his fifth WorldTour win since joining Ineos at the start of 2026.

Following the start in Orbe, a seven-rider breakaway formed, with Groupama-FDJ United most represented. The group included Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), Steff Cras (Soudal Quick-Step), Lorenzo Germani, Josh Kench and Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ United), Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost).

There was a crash in the breakaway on a roundabout with 67km remaining, including Germani. Oomen, Steinhauser, and Rochas. All but Rochas were back on their bikes in a flash, but Rochas had to sort out his bike, meaning that the Frenchman had a slightly longer chase before returning a few kilometres later. 

The breakaway split on the Col du Mollendruz with inside 40km remaining, with Caruso going solo in front. Meanwhile, Red Bull led the chase behind the veteran on the climb. Caruso’s advantage over the peloton at the summit was 1:00 with 32km remaining, with Cras and Steinhauser in the gap.

With 21km remaining, French champion Godon returned to the peloton along with two Ineos teammates and with 17km remaining, Caruso was rejoined by Cras and Steinhauser.

Red Bull, Lidl-Trek and Ineos were the main contributors to the chase, and the gap to the front trio was evaporating. The catch was made with 3km remaining, as full focus turned to the final sprint. 

Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) tried to take a flyer but was marked by Rodríguez, as the Spanish rider led out the sprint for his Ineos teammate Godon, who had enough for the win.