Cycling: Roche claims third on Tour opener

Ireland's Nicolas Roche was third on stage one of the Tour de Romandie yesterday as Slovakia's Peter Sagan sprinted to victory to take the race lead.

Sagan was second in Tuesday's prologue and took the race leader's jersey with his win ahead of Francesco Gavazzi and Roche, the son of 1987 Tour de France winner, Stephen Roche.

Britain's Ben Swift was ninth, but Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) was never in contention in the 175.6 kilometre stage from Porrentruy to Fleurier.

Meanwhile, Italian cyclist Gabriele Bosisio has been suspended for two years after testing positive for blood booster EPO in an out of competition test in September, the Italian Olympic Committee said yesterday. The LPR rider is the latest in a long line of Italian riders to test positive.