Second last year, Simon Spilak won the race’s queen stage, a summit finish on Les Diablerets, ahead of Chris Froome in a two-up sprint. Spilak won the Swiss race in 2010 and has been enjoying good form again this season for Katusha – though he may have slipped under some radars as Joaquim Rodriguez and Daniel Moreno take the plaudits for the Russian team.
Ninth at the Volta ao Algarve, eighth at Paris-Nice and fourth at the Tour of the Basque Country, Spilak has produced strong rides without doing anything spectacular so far this season. His form at the latter in particular though shows he is in good shape for Romandie. Fourth in the final day’s time trial, Spilak also has the form against the clock and will be a threat if he can reproduce that on the prologue and stage five.
