AIGLE, Switzerland — Fabio Felline of Italy won the Tour of Romandie prologue and dedicated his victory to compatriot Michele Scarponi, whose funeral was taking place on Tuesday.
In a post-race interview, Felline said his best win of the season "is also for Scarponi" — the 2011 Giro d'Italia winner who died Saturday after a collision with a van while training near his home.
On Swiss roads made slick by rain, Felline timed 5 minutes, 57 seconds for a 4.8-kilometer (3-mile) route around the International Cycling Union's home town of Aigle.
The Trek-Segafredo rider was two seconds faster than runner-up Alex Dowsett of Britain, and seven seconds ahead of Australian Alex Edmondson.
Two-time Romandie winner Chris Froome of Britain was 29 seconds back in a tentative ride on his first race for a month. Froome won the six-day race around the French-speaking region of Switzerland in 2013 as a warm-up for the first of his three Tour de France titles.
Three-time Tour champion Froome — a two-time winner of the Swiss race — opted to start among the early riders to avoid the rain but his tactics backfired on a slippery surface. The Sky rider lost 29 seconds to the winner,
Snow is forecast Wednesday, when the race heads into the mountains on a 168.9-km (105-mile) stage from Aigle to Champery that finishes at an altitude above 1,000 meters (3,300 feet). — AP
