Tour de Suisse - 2009 2009

Cancellara beat in Swiss duel, Valjavec holds the race lead with four days left to race

Michael Albasini of Columbia-Highroad topped a two-man sprint with Swiss compatriot Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) on the Serfaus climb at the end of Tour de Suisse stage five Wednesday. Damiano Cunego (Lampre-NGC) finished slightly behind the duo in third.

Slovenian Tadej Valjavec (AG2R La Mondiale) defended himself in an elite group of around 12 riders to keep the race lead he took yesterday. He leads by 14 seconds over both Swiss Oliver Zaugg (Liquigas) and Cancellara with four days remaining.

"I had to push myself hard to win, but it was worth it to win the hardest stage of the race," Albasini said. "It wasn't really a sprint because it came at the end of a long day in the mountains, but somehow I managed to keep going.

"I've been targeting this race since the beginning of May, because this is my home race and so obviously it's a big goal for me. Winning in Switzerland is always special."

Albasini, 28, is in 12th place, 1:05 down. "I wanted to go for a podium place, but in the first couple of stages I suffered more than I expected. Still, if I finish with a top ten place as well as this stage win, I'll be more than satisfied."

Cancellara moved back up to third place overall, tied with Zaugg. "I was very close of being dropped going over the Arlbergpass and it did cost a lot of effort to follow the pace. After today's stage I am still in well-positioned in the classification. But I have my doubts about how far I can really take it when I have to dig deep like today," he said.

Another Swiss, Pascal Hungerbühler (Vorarlberg-Corratec), dominated the early part of the stage. He held a lead of up to 11 minutes over the main group for part of the stage, which included the Arlbergpass climb (1793m). He remained ahead for nearly 150 kilometres.

A new escape group, Marcus Burghardt (Columbia-Highroad) and Björn Schröder (Milram), took shape right after Hungerbühler's capture. They had 46 seconds with 25 kilometres remaining. The duo's move lasted another 15 kilometres.

Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) took over at the base of the final climb. Tony Martin (Columbia-Highroad) joined him, but a thinning group of overall favourites were close behind.

AG2R tried to keep the favourites in one group for its for Tadej Valjavec. The favourites tried to test his strength in the final kilometres of the climb (1429m). Martin was the most active in the closing five kilometres.

Pre-race favourite Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) lost ground in the closing kilometres. He slipped out of the top ten overall.

Albasini's win was the third in five stages by Columbia-Highroad. Bernhard Eisel and Mark Cavendish winning the sprints in stages two and three.

Thursday's stage six should end in another sprint finish. It runs 178 kilometres from Oberrie to Bad Zurzach. The stage starts with a climb up Hölzlisberg, a category two climb.

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