The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling

Swiss Cycling

Swiss Cycling is the national governing body of cycle racing in Switzerland.The organisation is a member of the UCI and the UEC....

.

The race traditionally starts with an individual time trial

Individual time trial

An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...

 prologue in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 and ends with another individual time-trial in the hilly terrains in Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

. The final time-trial traditionally starts in the stadium north of Lausanne, goes downhill southwards to the Lac Léman (Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...

), and makes its way back uphill to the stadium again. Not surprisingly, the winner and several of the top-ten finishers are usually excellent time trialists.

The course of the race usually winds northwards towards the Jura mountains

Jura mountains

The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...

 and Alpine

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

 mountain ranges of western Switzerland.

Winners

External links

• 2009 Tour de Romandie Live Dashboard: preview, live video, results, photos, highlights