Albasini wins stage 1 of Tour de Romandie

Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) won a shortened stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie. The Swiss rider saved his matches for the frenetic finale to beat Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp) into Sion on a stage shortened to just 88km due to snow on the Simplon Pass.

Albasini held on during a frenetic finish that saw the peloton decimated before he made his move. The Orica-GreenEDGE rider flew past Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), who had gone on a late attack, to take his first victory of the season.

"I saw when he (Voeckler) attacked that it was really early. It was a long way to the finish and I saw that I had two guys in front of me and I knew that one of them would get nervous and chase him. I knew as soon as I launched my sprint that I would pass him," Albasini said at the finish.

Snow meant that the riders only had to face one second category climb, after the Simplonpass was totally removed. The absence of the ascent meant the stage was only 88 kilometres, thus making a fast and furious stage, although Albasini could have done with the pace being picked up a little.

"I felt good in the climb, it was nearly too slow we hoped that it would be faster. There was not too many fast people left so we felt pretty confident but you can never be too sure of the result. I am really happy with the win."

Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) finished safely in the bunch to retain the race lead. Bonus seconds move Albasini into second place, five seconds behind Kwiatkowski.

Snow day

The peloton had an unexpected lie-in on the second day, after the Simplonpass was removed due snow. Instead of the planned start in Ascona, the riders took the train to Brigerbad where they began racing at 3:15pm local time. What should have seen the first sorting out of the general classification turned out to be an 88 kilometre sprint to Sion.

The shortened parcours made for an active start and the break was quick to form. Home riders Reto Hollenstein (IAM Cycling) and Silvan Dillier (BMC) were joined by the Belgian Boris Vallee (Lotto-Belisol). The trio were never given much of an advantage and they were caught mid-way up the only climb of the day.

With the group together, there were a number of attacks to take the points for the mountain classification. It was another Swiss rider, Johan Tschopp (IAM Cycling), who managed to do that despite being caught by Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr).

With a flat finish in sight, Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) tried to hang onto the peloton but the pace was too quick for the German and he was forced to call a day on his stage hopes. It proved to be another bad day for Tejay van Garderen (BMC), who was seen off the back. The American was already well down the classification after his crash in the prologue.

As the race hit the descent, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) saw his opportunity off the front. The Italian used his superior descending skills to build up a substantial gap on the peloton. With seven kilometres to go, Nibali had 25 seconds on the leaders.

Nibali's attack had a huge impact on the peloton. Behind the Astana rider, the bunch began to string out as they tried to track him down. With Kwiatkowski and his leader's jersey to think about, Omega Pharma-QuickStep took up the work at the front. Immediately, riders began to be shelled off the back, including Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar).

Voeckler was able to make his way back into the peloton on the roads into Sion and was ready to go when Nibali was caught within the final two kilometres. It proved to be another no hoper for the Frenchman, however, and he was overhauled before the finish line.

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