Burghardt storms to second stage win

Marcus Burghardt (BMC) claimed stage 7 - and his second win of the Tour de Suisse - with a daring attack 55 kilometres from the finish. Oscar Friere (Rabobank) and Greg Van Avermaet (Omega Pharma-Lotto) rounded out the top three, but finished over a minute down on the German on the 204.2-kilometre stage from Savognin to Wetzikon.

Robert Gesink had a relatively easy day in the field, his Rabobank team sitting on the front, making sure that the day's break never threatened his overall lead.

Burghardt's lung-busting bid for glory came on the third category climb of Hulftegg, after 153 kilometres, and despite a chase from Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse), Burghardt's advantage of around one minute never appeared in danger.

The stage began in a frenzied fashion, with a string of unsuccessful attacks in the opening hour. However the chance of forming a break were limited with the peloton facing a 40-kilometre section at the start of the stage. The average speed for the first hour was 53kph.

However a group of 16 riders broke free soon after as the bunch reached Landquart. They included Burghardt, Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank), Aliaksandr Kuschynski and Manuel Quinziato (both Liquigas), Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana), Mark Renshaw (HTC), Marcus Burghardt and Mathias Frank (both BMC), Greg Van Avermaet (Omega), Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse), Oscar Freire and Tom Leezer (both Rabobank), Daniel Sesma (Euskaltel), Jürgen Van De Walle (Quickstep), Matthew Wilson (Garmin), Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) and Michal Golas (Vacansoleil).

With Flecha (8:14 down on Gesink in the GC) the closest overall threat, Rabobank was willing to let the move extend its lead. At the Wildhaus climb, Golas took the full amount of mountain points in front of Frank and Breschel with the bunch cresting the top of the climb 3:07 down. Frank, in turn, took the lead in the mountain competition.

The break continued to build on its advantage and had a lead of five minutes just as Burghardt attacked on the Hulftegg. Over the top, and the German - who won his first race of the season two days ago - had a 20-second lead on Sanchez, who had attacked the from the chasers on the descent.

And although the canny Spaniard had the German at 45 seconds, he was caught by a counter-attack from Friere, Quinziato, Van Avermaet and Frank. With Sachez cooked and the group consisting of one very good sprinter in Friere and one fairly good sprinter in Van Avermaet, the harmony never looked ideal. More importantly, they never looked liked they were closing in on Burghardt who only appeared to crack slightly on the day's final climb before the finish.

Occasionally Friere would come to the front to rally the chase, aware that as the biggest threat in a sprint finish he was unlikely to get much support. Meanwhile, Frank patiently sat at the back, only coming through to take sprint and mountain points, often almost apologising to the rest of the break before shifting to the back of the group.

Leading into the final kilometre, Burghardt had time to show the world his trinket - that's so Classics 2010 - before grabbing a German flag and celebrating his win as he crossed the line.

Quinziato, who had given Frank a verbal bashing for daring to take points but not work in the group launched a sly move on the inside with 500 meters to go and at one point it looked like the Italian would take second, but Friere opened his sprint and along with Van Avermaet, came around in the final 50 meters.

As Burghardt came to a standstill and hugged his team director, Frank crossed the line, his arm raised in celebration. Luckily Quinziato wasn't there to see it.

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