Albasini stroke again in Tour de Romandie: he won the 2nd stage (Sion-Montreux, 166,5 km) on a hilly course that selected those sprinters that still are not in top form.
LAMPRE-MERIDA’s fast wheel, Roberto Ferrari (photo Bettini), was in the head of the race, but he could not overtake the riders that were preceding him because there was no space, so he crossed the finish line in 15th place, result that did not reflect the good performance the Italian rider realize on a difficult course.
The world champion Rui Costa was 33rd and he climbed up to the 11th place in the overall classification, now led by Albasini.
“Ferrari showed very interesting feedbacks in view of Giro d’Italia, since he covered perfectly an insidious course such today one - sport director Matxin commented - He still had energies in his legs in the final, but the sprint revealed to be strange: many riders came from behind, overtaking some pure sprinters that had already set their positions in view of the sprint.
Good performance by Rui Costa too, who always pedaled in the proper positions in the bunch and whose morale is going higher and higher.
Pay attention to tomorrow stage: it will be difficult, for Rui too, because the donwhill could be more demanding than the climbs, especially if there will be bad weather as it seems it will be”.
STAGE RESULTS
1- Albasini 4h12’22″
2- Hurel s.t.
3- Nizzolo s.t.
4- Tsatevich s.t.
15- Ferrari s.t.
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
1- Albasini 6h29’50″
2- Kwiatkowski 5″
3- Navardauskas 10″
4- Herrada 11″
11- Rui Costa 21″
