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Spaniard wins Romandie opener in snowy conditions

Spaniard Ion Izagirre was a surprise winner of the opening prologue of Switzerland's Tour de Romandie on Tuesday.

Published: 27 April 2016 08:26 CEST

Spaniard wins Romandie opener in snowy conditions

Ion Izagirre celebrates his win. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

The 27-year-old Movistar rider covered the technical 3.95km course in 5min 33sec to beat Dutch time-trial specialist Tom Dumoulin by six seconds.

Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski was third at 7sec in the same time as his Welsh Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas, but their team leader Chris Froome struggled.

The Tour de France champion finished 26sec down in 62nd after his run was hampered by snowfall at La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Froome suggested in a series of messages on Twitter before the stage that he was unhappy with being forced to race in such conditions, pointing out that the person charged with making a decision concerning the weather was the brother of the race organiser.

In response to a tweet from the riders' body CPA announcing that David Chassot was the delegate for extreme weather protocols, Froome tweeted that his brother Richard Chassot was in overall charge.

“The brother of the race organizer @RChassot? Conflict of interest?” wrote Froome on Twitter.

“That's one way to get your race to go ahead without those pesky concerns about rider safety,” he added.

Froome lost time on other overall favourites including Nairo Quintana (18th at 16sec), Thibaut Pinot (11th at 12sec), Romain Barrdet (27th at 18sec) and 2011 winner Simon Spilak (36th at 22sec).

But reigning champion Ilnur Zakarin of Russia struggled even more than Briton Froome and finished 75th at 30sec while Australian Richie Porte was 101st at 37sec, although his BMC team-mate Tejay Van Garderen managed a strong run to come ninth at just 11sec.

“There was a window of pretty good roads and I think I got a bit lucky as Richie and some of the later guys in the last wave didn't get so lucky, but that's kind of prologues isn't it?” said Van Garderen.

Porte added: “It's a little bit disappointing. I think it was the luck of the draw with the weather.”

Wednesday's opening stage proper is 167km from Chaux-de-Fonds to Moudon.

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Germany's no-deal Brexit residency law leaves 'many questions unanswered'

Archive picture shows the Brexit mural by artist Banksy in Dover, UK. Photo: DPA

Matt Bristow from British in Germany (BiG) told The Local that the group welcomed the “step forward” by the German government to bring in legislation that guarantees all British people and their family members living in Germany will receive residence permits if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.

Germany has previously said no British person will be forced to leave Germany as a result of Brexit but the draft law – called the Brexit-Aufenthalts-Überleitungsgesetz (Brexit Residence Transition Act) – goes a step further to provide reassurances to British nationals.

READ ALSO: New law set to guarantee Brits residency in Germany in case of no-deal Brexit

However, Bristow said the full text of the draft law must be viewed to check that it “covers everyone”. The Foreign Office has not yet published the details of the proposed legislation, which has to go through the Bundestag and would only come into force in the event of a no-deal.

The UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that he wants to ensure the UK leaves the EU, whether a deal is in place or not by October 31st this year.

Becoming a Third Country National

In a no-deal scenario, British people living in Germany would assume the status of Third Country Nationals.

“We will be looking closely to see if it covers everyone, including those who wouldn’t otherwise necessarily qualify for standard Third Country National residence permits,” Bristow told The Local.

Details were missing from the German Foreign Office's announcement on the proposed legislation, Bristow said, such as what happens to pensioners in Germany who have their healthcare covered by the UK's NHS.

“Whilst it appears that the draft law will provide clarity around residence rights and access to the labour market, there are still many questions left unanswered,” he said.

“For example, what will happen to pensioners whose healthcare is currently paid by the UK? Will this group of people suddenly have to find hundreds of euros per month to pay for health insurance, as previous information has indeed suggested?

“At a time when the value of British pensions is falling for people living in Germany, this is money that many can ill-afford.”

Bristow said there were issues that “cannot be resolved unilaterally, or even in a bilateral agreement between the UK and Germany”.

“For example, to protect the state pensions of people who have worked in more than one EU country we need an agreement at European level,” he said.

British in Germany, which is a branch of British in Europe, is calling on governments to declare their support for ring-fencing the citizens’ rights section of the Withdrawal Agreement in the event that no overall deal can be agreed.

“We also still want to see British citizens living in the EU27 to continue to enjoy freedom of movement around the EU, as under current plans we would be landlocked, unable to move from one EU country to another,” Bristow said.

He added that there was “still a long way to go until all our existing rights are fully protected”.

No-deal to cause major job losses in Europe

The announcement came as a new study predicted a no-deal Brexit would result in the loss of 1.2 million jobs across Europe, including 291,930 in Germany.

Source: Leuven University

The study by Belgium's Leuven University found the country expected to suffer the most, perhaps not surprisingly, is the UK, where more than 500,000 jobs would be lost – up to five percent of its total workforce.

Ireland would be one of the worst-hit countries, as it stands to lose 50,330 jobs. Belgium too would lose a higher percentage of jobs, with 42,390 jobs expected to be cut there in a no-deal scenario.

Source: Leuven University

The study also looked at the potential impact if the UK left with an agreement. In that case, the number of jobs lost across Europe would be smaller – but still significant.

Germany, which has a high employment rate, would face 69,060 job losses even if Britain leaves the EU with an agreement.

Researchers took into account how supply chains across the EU and globally would be disrupted, as well as the countries' direct trade links with the UK.

To calculate the impact, researchers defined “leaving with an agreement” as a situation where the UK leaves the EU but remains part of the internal market or the European Customs Union.

For the projected no-deal scenario, researchers assumed the UK would leave the single market and fall back on trading rules of the World Trade Organization.

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