Intro:

Michael Albasini of the Orica team won Thursday's (May 1) second stage of the Tour de Romandie, and in the process wrested the overall lead away from Michal Kwiatkowski.

Script:

Michael Albasini of the Orica team won the second stage of the Tour de Romandie on Thursday.

Less than an hour into the 166.5 kilometres from Sion to Montreux, two riders had pulled well clear of the rest of the field.

Pirmin Lang and Martin Kohler opened up a gap of 13 minutes and 10 seconds.

But with a top quality peloton monitoring the situation, the duo seemed always likely to be caught and three kilometres from the finish line, their lead came to an end.

Michal Kwiatkowski started the sprint to the line, but could not prevent Michael Albasini from taking his second consecutive win.

Albasini clocked a time of four hours 12 minutes and 22 seconds, allowing him to snatch the overall lead.

Tony Hurel of Team Europcar finished second in a tight finish, whilst Giacomo Nizzolo of Trek Factory Racing was third.