Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Caffita) has put doubts to rest that he would not be at his best in the Giro d'Italia by taking third in stage 4 and the overall leader's jersey in the Tour de Romandie. In today's uphill finish to Les Paccots, Cunego couldn't quite follow up on his impressive stage 3 win, being unable to counter moves by Leonardo Piepoli and stage winner Alberto Contador in the final 1.5 km. But he won the sprint for third against Stefano Garzelli, who had recovered from his bad day yesterday, and with the bonus seconds, took over the yellow jersey from Santiago Botero (6th).
Botero is still the favourite to take out the Tour de Romandie, which finishes with a tough 20 km time trial in Lausanne tomorrow. Cunego admitted after stage 3 that his time trialling skills weren't up to the Colombian's, and expects to lose the jersey. On the other hand, Alberto Contador is just 19 seconds off the lead and 16 behind Botero, and he is a man who can certainly ride against the clock.
After his fourth victory of the season today in Les Paccots, the 176cm/61 kg rider from Madrid said he will ride for the overall win tomorrow. "It will be necessary to see what sort of a day I have," he said. "There is a possibility to win, but it is very difficult because Menchov and Botero are very good in the time trial, and Cunego has the leader's jersey."
Contador's team manager Manolo Saiz took note of the fact that he won after taking a week of absolute rest after his third place in the GC of the Tour of the Basque Country. Contador only resumed training last week, and did not have Romandie as one of his objectives." The most important thing for me is that Contador continues learning and every day improving a bit more," said Manolo Saiz.
