Intro:

Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski, of the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team, won the prologue to the 68th Tour de Romandie in Switzerland on Tuesday (29th April), a 5.57-kilometre (3.46-mile) time trial around the town of Ascona.

Script:

The Tour de Romandie got underway with a field of 152 riders tackling a 5.57-kilometre (3.46-mile) time trial prologue around the Swiss town of Ascona.

Michal Kwiatkowski, of Omega Pharma-Quickstep, set the early pace.

Third in both the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Walloon Arrow one-day classics last week, the Pole is in form.

He clocked six minutes and 22.83 seconds.

Garmin-Sharp's Rohan Dennis was four second short.

As was Marcel Kittel and Giacomo Nizzolo.

Defending champion Chris Froome finished in 13th.

The winner of the six-day Romandie race has gone on to win the Tour de France in each of the past three years.

Wednesday's first stage seees the riders take on a 200.9-kilometre (124.8-mile) route from Ascona to Sion a climb of up to 2005 metres.