Geraint Thomas finishes fifth as Team Ineos makes debut at Tour de Romandie
- Published
Thomas won the Tour de France for the first time last year
Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas finished fifth in the Tour de Romandie prologue - the first outing for Team Ineos, formerly known as Team Sky.
Thomas, 32, was four seconds behind the time-trial stage winner Jan Tratnik, with Slovenia's Primoz Roglic second.
"In a couple of places maybe I could have gone a couple of kilometres quicker, but I think it was a decent start all in all," said Thomas.
Team Ineos will officially be launched at the Tour de Yorkshire this week.
Chemical firm Ineos confirmed its takeover in March after Sky announced it would end a decade-long commitment in December.
The team are wearing a black one-off kit at six-day Tour de Romandie with their new colours officially unveiled at an undisclosed location in Yorkshire on Wednesday.
Switzerland's Tom Bohli and Germany's Tony Martin were also faster than Thomas on the 3.9km loop of the Swiss town of Neuchatel.
Fellow Briton Alex Dowsett, who rides for Katusha Alpecin, was sixth.
Tour de Romandie - prologue
1. Jan Tratnik (Slo/Bahrain-Merida) 5mins 06secs
2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +01secs
3. Tom Bohli (Swi/UAE) Same time
4. Tony Martin (Ger/Jumbo-Visma) +04secs
5. Geraint Thomas (Gbr/Ineos)
6. Alex Dowsett (Gbr/Katusha)
Britain's Ben Swift sporting Ineos' one-off black kit for the event
Chemical firm Ineos confirmed its takeover of the team last month