Italy’s Vincenzo Albanese sprinted to victory on Monday on the second day of the Tour de Suisse in Schwarzsee.
After the peloton remained together on the final ascent of Rechthalten, the 28-year-old's EF Education-EasyPost team made a decisive move towards the front of the peloton. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) made a break inside the final kilometre, stretching the front of the bunch out and disrupting the leadout trains. The US champion opened a small gap but Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) managed to get onto his wheel, followed by Albanese.
The Italian made his move with around 180m to go of a twisting finish where he held off Fabio Christen (Q36.5) and Askey. "I felt good from the start," Albanese told reporters at the finish, as he celebrated his first win since 2022.
"My role was to lead out Mihkels. In the last kilometre, Simmons and the other guys attacked and I followed them for 200m to the finish. I went full [gas] until the line.
"This is my first victory. We’ll see in the next few days what happens."
Stage one winner Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) is still the overall race leader.
How it happened
Stage two of the Tour de Suisse offered the potential for the unexpected. The course was defined by its undulating terrain, with more than half of it flat, despite reaching altitude heights of 2,700m. It promised a battle between sprinters and astute mountain climbers - and it delivered.
The first riders to form a break soon into the course were Silvan Dillier (Alpecin Deceuninck), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla). Led initially by Dillier, Germany’s Rutsch took up the reins, as Dillier fell back into the peloton after riding in the heart of the break for over 100km. Swapping through turns, Rutsch and Schmid’s gap remained a good distance from the peloton after three hours of racing.
As the race crossed the dry river Sense and climbed up Heitenried, riders began to drop from the peloton. A 36-second gap between Felix Engelhart (Jayco AlUla) was created with the break as he charged towards his teammate, Schmid, up the road.
With 4.3km until the finish, the pace ramped up into an ascent, bunching riders together in the peloton, with EF Education-EasyPost blazing pink at the head of the group.
First to attempt an attack was UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Jan Christen, who was still suffering injuries from Sunday’s first stage. A surprise opening allowed the Swiss rider to push forward, the bottle in his back pocket testament to the unexpected opportunity to pull away from the peloton.
However, Christen's lead didn’t last long, and as the terrain picked up into the final ascent, the faster finishers emerged out of the peloton. Led by Simmons, Albanese, Christen – Jan's brother Fabio who rides for Q36.6 – and Askey pushed on an uphill drag to the line, with Albanese emerging victorious.
Results
Tour de Suisse 2025, Stage two: Aarau - Schwarzsee (177km)
1. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) EF Education-EasyPost, in 3:55:57
2. Fabio Christen (Sui) Q36.5
3. Lewis Askey (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
4. Quinn Simmons (USA) Lidl-Trek
5. Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
6. Paul Lapeira (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
7. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious
8. Nicolò Buratti (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious
9. Gal Glivar (Slo) Alpecin-Deceuninck
10. Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, all at same time
General Classification After Stage Two
1. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, 6:46:01
2. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkea-B&B Hotels, +25s
3. Bart Lemmen (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +27s
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +27s
5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +1:18
6. Felix Großschartner (Aut) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:18
7. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Lidl-Trek, +1:18
8. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar Team, +1:18
9. Rainer Kepplinger (Aut) Bahrain Victorious, +1:18
10. Ben Swift (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:18
