Orica GreenEdge Rider Michael Albisini soloed to a stage win from the breakaway in Stage Eight of the Tour de Suisse, while behind him race leader Rui de Costa of Movistar dropped off the back of the peloton on the final Hors Categorie climb, losing most of his lead.
“My first goal today was to get into the breakaway because we rode through the town where I lived,” said Albasini on the GreenEdge website.
“I have tried to get in a break every day, and today was another day where I made the same attempt. I did a hard attack to get away with four other riders. I’m surprised that I could bring it all the way to the finish. I’m really happy with this win.”
RadioShack’s Frank Schleck was the est rider on the final climb, setting the pace much of the way and attacking four km from the finish, bringing with him Omega-Pharma-Lotto’s Levi Leipheimer and Eusakltel’s Mikel Nieve.
Nieve and Leipheimer passed Schleck in the final sprint, but Schleck retook second in the General Classifiaction, 14 seconds behind Costa. Leipheimer moved up to third overall from seventh; Rabobank’s Robert Gesink dropped to fourth.
After Costa’s trouble on the final climb, the top four riders all have a shot at the overall win on Sunday’s Queen stage, with its pair of Hors Categorie climbs and Cat 2 mountaintop finish.
Tour de Suisse Stage Eight | |||
| rider | team | time |
1 | Michael Albasini | Orica GreenEdge | 3:45:39 |
2 | Mikel Nieve | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:01:15 |
3 | Levi Leipheimer | Omega Pharma-QuickStep | 0:01:15 |
4 | Frank Schleck | RadioShack-Nissan | 0:01:15 |
5 | Robert Gesink | Rabobank | 0:01:36 |
6 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ-Big Mat | 0:01:36 |
7 | Thomas Danielson | Garmin-Barracuda | 0:01:36 |
8 | Steven Kruijswijk | Rabobank | 0:01:39 |
9 | Roman Kreuziger | Astana | 0:01:57 |
10 | Jakob Fuglsang | RadioShack-Nissan | 0:01:57 |
General Classification after stage 8: | |||
| rider | team | time |
1 | Rui Costa | Movistar Team | 29:58:39 |
2 | Frank Schleck | RadioShack-Nissan | 0:00:14 |
3 | Levi Leipheimer | Omega Pharma-QuickStep | 0:00:21 |
4 | Robert Gesink | Rabobank | 0:00:25 |
5 | Mikel Nieve | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:00:40 |
6 | Roman Kreuziger | Astana | 0:00:42 |
7 | Thomas Danielson | Garmin-Barracuda | 0:00:43 |
8 | Steven Kruijswijk | Rabobank | 0:01:01 |
9 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar | 0:01:04 |
10 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ-Big Mat 0:01:13 |
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