Brutt force: Russian rampages in Romandie

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For the second straight day at the Tour de Romandie an unlikely figure took both the stage victory and top position on general classification. While unheralded Jonathan Castroviejo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was the surprise prologue winner yesterday, today's honour went to Pavel Brutt (Katusha).

The 29-year-old Russian is no stranger to long-shot breakaways and while in the usual scenario the escape is neutralised by a vigilant peloton, today's opening road stage at the Tour de Romandie was hardly ordinary.

Brutt powered to a dramatic solo victory in Leysin after being part of a four-man break which formed just 6km into the 172.6km stage and stayed away through to the finish. On a cold, rainy day in Switzerland the Russian proved strongest of the break which shattered on the pair of category one climbs in the final 20km.

Brutt topped runner-up Oleksandr Kvachuk (Lampre-ISD) by 56 seconds while Branislau Samoilau (Movistar) finished in third place 19 seconds later.

The fourth man in the break, Australian road champion Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo), finished 1:23 behind Brutt atop the category one mountain.

Italy's Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) led in an elite selection of GC contenders 1:59 behind the Russian for fifth place.

Brutt's long day on the attack also moved him into the overall lead. The Katusha rider holds a one-minute advantage over Kvachuk while Samoilau holds third at 1:22.

Prologue winner and overnight race leader Jonathan Castroviejo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) finished 39th on the day, 2:47 behind Brutt, and dropped to 31st overall.

"It was a very difficult stage because of its climbing and the weather conditions," said Brutt. "When we started, we were against a strong headwind and it was easy to accumulate seconds over the group. Then I decided to try the solo breakaway because I was feeling good and, finally, this splendid victory came.

"I don't think I'll be able to fight for the final general classification victory. I wanted to win a stage and I managed to, but I don't think my goal has to be the final victory. Anyway, I'm very happy with my second success [of the season]."

For much of the stage it appeared that the overall general classification battle would become a four-way contest between Brutt, Bobridge, Kvachuk and Samoilau as Euskaltel-Euskadi opted not to defend the leader's jersey.

Without a dedicated group of riders to set tempo, the escapees motored out to a 12-minute lead after 50km of racing. As the lead further grew to 13 minutes the BMC squad of 2006 Tour de Romandie champion Cadel Evans, however, assumed the pace-making duties to keep the quartet in check. Evans's teammates Danilo Wyss plus prologue runner-up Taylor Phinney did yeoman's work on the front which steadily reduced the gap.

Sky, Astana, Liquigas-Cannondale and eventually Euskaltel-Euskadi also contributed riders to the front of the peloton but the break still held a lead in excess of five minutes with 25km remaining.

On the penultimate climb, whose summit was positioned 22km from the finish, Kvachuk attacked and took maximum KOM points at the top. The break further re-shuffled on the descent as Kvachuk was brought back and Brutt and Samoilau leapt off the front.

Meanwhile, With 17km to go, BMC put five riders on the front of the peloton and set a furious tempo to make a final run at reducing the break's leading margin.

At the head of the race Brutt and Samoilau put time into their former breakaway companions and began the 8.5km climb to the finish together. As the duo climbed to the finish in Leysin, Brutt made his move with 4km remaining, dropping the Movistar rider and knocking out a steady tempo through to the end.

Kvachuk overtook Samoilau on the finishing ascent, while Bobridge managed to hold off by 36 seconds the advances of an elite selection of 22 riders containing the favoured GC contenders.