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The Tour de Romandie covers the French speaking western part of Switzerland and the fine balance of sprint stages and tough climbs always brings out the best in the riders, with the overall winner needing to be both a good climber and strong time trialist.

The race organisers often use finishing circuits for the stages, making the racing more spectator-friendly, while increasing the safety for the riders.

The 2010 route kicks off in Porrentruy, in the north of the region, with a short time trial. The race then heads south to Fleurier followed by a stage around the town of Fribourg, before the stage four time trial around Moudon. The mountains come in the final two days with a testing stage into nearby France to Châtel and then a loop around Sion, which first hosted a finish in 1949. The stage is relatively short but is packed with climbing.

In 2009 the highly talented Czech rider Roman Kreuziger of the Liquigas team won the Tour de Romandie. Liquigas finished fourth in the team time trial, and then Kreuziger was the strongest on the climbs and dominated the fourth stage from Estavayer-le-Lac to Sainte-Croix with a late attack. He beat Russia’s Vladimir Karpets of Team Katusha by 18 seconds in the final overall standings. Both will be back in 2010.

The race organizers have a UCI ProTour licence until 2013 and have secured new sponsorship for the 2010 race. The race leader’s yellow jersey will be sponsored by Vaudoise Assurances. Tissot Timing is back as the official time keeper and the Raiffeisen Bank will sponsor the best young rider’s white jersey.