Albasini takes Romandie lead

Orica-GreenEDGE's Michael Albasini has sprinted his way into the Tour de Romandie race lead after winning Stage 2.

Michael Albasini celebrates his stage victory which puts him into the race lead (Getty Images)

The Swiss rider held-off Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling) and Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick-Step) at the stage finish in Saint-Imier, with Australia's Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin) in fourth. A group of 50 riders contested the finish after cresting the final climb together.

“I actually was hurting a lot on the second last climb out here in Saint-Imier,” said Albasini who won three stages in last year's race.

“But (the final climb) was quite a regular climb. After a really fast first part, the second part was more regular and I could stay in the bunch so I knew I had a good chance in the sprint.”

“I placed myself well, I always like a little fight going on and I was maybe a little bit too far in the front too early so I was happy the guys from Garmin came around me and I could jump on them.

“Still I had to do a long long sprint so I was happy to keep (the lead).”

The victory is consolation for Orica-GreenEDGE after the team finished second to Sky in the opening team time trial by less than one second.

“It was disappointing yesterday so I am super happy that we can have the first win today,” Albasini said. “It makes it a little bit better for the 0.63 of a second we lost yesterday.”        

Overnight leader Geraint Thomas (Sky) suffered a puncture with 22 kilometres to go, at the base of the Vue des Alpes. Despite assistance from team-mate Peter Kennaugh he was never able to rejoin the front of the race, eventually finishing over four minutes down.

Attacks on the final climb - including ones by Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) - failed to force a selection at the front of the race.  Astana’s Rein Taaramae eventually managed to forge a slim lead, but a huge effort by Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick-Step) ensured he was caught with two kilometres to go to set up a sprint finish.

Albasini holds a 10 second lead over Chris Froome (Sky) with his team-mates Ivan Santaromita and Simon Yates also on the same time.

Stage 2: 168.1km, Apples - Saint-Imier

1 Michael Albasini (SWI) Orica-GreenEDGE 4hr 21min 43sec    

2 Jarlinson Pantano (COL) IAM Cycling         

3 Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Etixx-Quick-Step         

4 Nathan Haas (AUS) Cannondale-Garmin     

5 Rui Costa (POR) Lampre-Merida         

6 Damiano Caruso (ITA) BMC Racing         

7 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) Katusha         

8 Ivan Santaromita (ITA) Orica-GreenEDGE         

9 Jan Bakelants (BEL) AG2R La Mondiale         

10 Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) Cannondale-Garmin

General Classification

1 Michael Albasini (SWI) Orica-GreenEDGE 4hr 42min 52sec    

2 Ivan Santaromita (ITA) Orica-GreenEDGE 0:00:10    

3 Christopher Froome (GBR) Sky         

4 Simon Yates (GBR) Orica-GreenEDGE         

5 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) Katusha 0:00:15    

6 Pavel Kochetkov (RUS) Katusha         

7 Egor Silin (RUS) Katusha         

8 Yury Trofimov (RUS) Katusha         

9 Simon Spilak (SLO) Katusha         

10 Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Etixx-Quick-Step 0:00:20