Tour de Romandie 2014 Albasini takes stage in home race

Michael Albasini won the shortened first stage of the Tour of Romandie after the bunch caught the attacking Voeckler just before the finish. (Slideshow route/profile)

Tour de Romandie 2014: Results 1st stage

1. Michael Albasini (Switzerland)
2. Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spain) s.t.
3. Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania) s.t.
4. Maxim Iglinsky (Kazakhstan) s.t.
5. Andrew Talansky (USA) s.t.
6. Mattias Brandle (Austria) s.t.
7. Rui Costa (Portugal) s.t.
8. Jonathan Hivert (France) s.t.
9. Bjorn Thurau (Germany) s.t.
10. Thomas Voeckler (France) s.t.

GC after 1st stage
1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)
2. Michael Albasini (Switserland) + 0.05
3. Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania) s.t.
4. Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spain) + 0.06
5. Mattias Brandle (Austria) +0.07
6. Rohan Dennis (Australia) + 0.08
7. Tony Martin (Germany) + 0.09
8. Martijn Keizer (The Netherlands) +0.13
9. Alexandre Geniez (France) s.t.
10. Chris Froome (gbr) +0.14

Race report
Organisers decided to shorten today’s stage to just 88 kilometres due to snow on the Simplon pass. It didn’t prevent an escape going clear however with Silvan Dillier, Reto Hollenstein and Boris Vallée building a maximum lead of 3 minutes.

After 40 kilometres the bunch started the chase and the break was reeled in on the Cat 2 to Lens with about 25 kilometres. Swiss rider Johann Tschopp took the mountain points on offer to lead in that classification.

Vincenzo Nibali showed his descending prowess once again, stretching the bunch and then building a 20 second gap. He was reeled in however with 1.7 kilometres left to race.

An audacious attempt by Thomas Voeckler was thwarted in sight of the finish line and in the bunch sprint Michael Albassini outsprinted Herrada and Navardauskas.