Luis Leon Sanchez wins Romandie stage to Charmey

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Close to the win on stage 2 to Moutier at the Tour of Romandie, Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) moved onto the top step of the podium today, beating a small group of favourites into Charmey. The Spaniard secured a ten second time bonus to move to within one second of race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky), who was unable to respond in the uphill sprint for the line.

Gianni Meersman (Lotto Belisol Team) and Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team) rounded out the top three, and with two stages remaining the race is delicately poised, with a mountain stage and individual time trial to come.

Wiggins had asked the press for better questions at end of his press conference on stage 1 but within 48 hours it was his GC rivals who turned quizzical on the tough climb to the finish, with a serious of testing attacks before the final sprint to the line.

Until then the Sky team had ridden a relatively untroubled stage, sheltering their leader from the wind and keeping the day's break in check. Mark Cavendish, so often the benefactor of teamwork, played his role in Sky's control, helping to set the pace for his teammates at various points.

The rolling parcours bore a resemblance to stage 2 and like yesterday's stage an early break formed with Gatis Smukulis (Katusha), Leigh Howard (GreenEdge), Anders Lund (Saxo Bank), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol) and Matthew Brammeier (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) escaping.

With just under 50 kilometres to go, and the gap at 4:55, Sky began to increase their pace. Howard was riding towards the yellow jersey, 3:43 down on Wiggins at the start of the race but as the gap began to evaporate on the flat roads between the final climb of Le Chateland and the finish, a number of teams began to assist Wiggins.

Lampre, Garmin, and Rabobank were the most effective, reducing the gap to 2:41 with 20 kilometres.

Sensing it was now or never, Smukulis snuck off the front as the remnants of the break watched each other. Brammeier and Van der Sande attempted a brief chase with 10 kilometres remaining but by the time they reached the final 6 kilometres the climb had started and their time was almost up.

Smukulis was finally brought back and Dave Zabriskie attempted to go clear. By now Sky's domestiques were reduced to the impressive Richie Porte and Michael Rogers, both of whom will surely be part of Sky's plans for the Tour. Porte responded to a flurry of attacks on the lower slopes, dragging Wiggins and the rest of the peloton back each time.

With so many riders within touching distance of Wiggins's lead it was important that Sky measured their strength, only pulling back moves that contained their closest rivals. So when Simon Spilak (Katusha Team), 9 seconds down on GC, attacked with Roman Kreuziger (Pro Team Astana), a response was needed.

Luckily for Wiggins it came but when Janez Brajkovic (Pro Team Astana) and then Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) struck for home it was clear that Wiggins was riding into the red. Both riders were caught but within sight of the line Sanchez launched his sprint and Wiggins was forced to yield.

Meersman, who had finished one place behind Sanchez a day earlier, and who was 28 seconds down on Wiggins before the start of the stage, almost came through on the inside. But Sanchez just about had enough in the tank, taking his third win of the year, and his first ever on Swiss soil.

Wiggins asked for better questions, and today he answered them, just.

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