Albasini strikes again at Tour de Romandie

Orica-GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini has extended his Tour de Romandie race lead by winning Stage 3.

Swiss Superstar...Michael Albasini is dominating the Tour de Romandie (Getty Images)

The Swiss rider claimed his second consecutive stage victory holding off Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx -Quick-Step) and Damiano Caruso (BMC) at the stage finish in Porrentruy. Once again the characterised climbs ensured it was a reduced peloton sprinting for the stage spoils at the conclusion of the 172.5km stage.

Albasini benefitted from a lead-out by Simon Gerrans in the final kilometre.

“First of all we have to realise what my team did for me today," said Albasini. “They really drove strong in the first half of the race and in the final even Santaromita was around to make sure nobody was riding away.”

“I knew the two consecutive climbs, they were really hard and most of the really fast guys wouldn’t survive them so I knew I would be one of the faster guys left.

“Then the team did everything for me to make a sprint.

“Then I had one of the best riders in the bunch lead me out, so I just had to win it.”

The victory sees Albasini's lead extend to 20 seconds over defending champion Chris Froome (Sky) and his Orica-GreenEDGE team-mates Ivan Santaromita and Simon Yates.

Friday's fourth stage is a 170km ride from La Neuveville to Fribourg which should favour the sprinters.

Stage 3: 172.5km, Moutier - Porrentruy

1 Michael Albasini (SWI) Orica-GreenEDGE 4hr 14min 56sec    

2 Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Etixx -Quick-Step         

3 Damiano Caruso (ITA) BMC     

4 Rui Costa (POR) Lampre-Merida         

5 Simon Gerrans (AUS) Orica-GreenEDGE         

6 Nathan Haas (AUS) Cannondale-Garmin     

7 Rigoberto Uran (COL) Etixx-Quick-Step         

8 Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) Cannondale-Garmin    

9 Luka Mezgec (SLO) Giant-Alpecin         

10 Sergei Chernetski (RUS) Katusha

General Classification

1 Michael Albasini (SWI) Orica-GreenEDGE 8hr 57min 38sec    

2 Ivan Santaromita (ITA) Orica-GreenEDGE 0:00:20    

3 Christopher Froome (GBR) Sky         

4 Simon Yates (GBR) Orica-GreenEDGE         

5 Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Etixx-Quick-Step 0:00:24    

6 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) Katusha 0:00:25    

7 Pavel Kochetkov (RUS) Katusha         

8 Yury Trofimov (RUS) Katusha         

9 Egor Silin (RUS) Katusha         

10 Simon Spilak (SLO) Katusha