An Italian triumphs in Switzerland: Vincenzo Albanese has completed the last kilometer on the 2nd stage of the Tour de Suisse Turbulent.
On the 177 kilometers from Aarau to Schwarzsee, it had previously gone down properly, but a top group around Jonas Rutsch was obtained 17 kilometers before the finish. So it went into the final kilometers with a large peloton – but without the best sprinter that could not keep up on the hilly course. The winner had to determine the final increase of 4.9 kilometers with an average slope of 3.3 percent.
Albanese celebrates the first great success
On the drivers on the dispensing on the bumps, only 2.7 kilometers before the end, Jan Christians competed from the UAE team and was actually able to break away. A gap quickly gaped around 100 to 150 meters, it looked as if Christians had found the perfect moment for his start – but it wasn’t enough. He was obtained 500 meters before the finish, there was a mass sprint in which Albanese (EF Education) prevailed over Fabio Christen and Lewis Askey.
“This is my first victory on the World Tour, I am very happy. My team did a fantastic job on the last kilometers, I felt good at the start”said the 28-year-old. “I just went full throttle and got the first victory at this level – now let’s see what will happen in the next few days.”
Gregoire caught dream start
The day before, Roman Gregoire, who was able to defend his golden jersey confidently, benefited the most of the difficult conditions with a lot of rain on the 129.4 kilometers in Küssnacht and won as a soloist in front of a triple persecutor around Julian Alaphilippe.
Lennart Kämna finished eighth with 1:08 minutes behind in the third group, Georg Zimmermann finished 18 seconds later – on the second stage, the two Germans were at the same time with Albanese. Several candidates in the overall ranking lost even more time.
In eight often hilly stages, the Tour de Suisse is the last big tour before the Tour de France. On Tuesday it continues with a long flat section, in the final phase of the 195.6 kilometers from Aarau to Heiden, a mountain of the second and one of the third category on the drivers are waiting, the decision is made on another short climb.