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Albasini nabs final stage victory in Tour de Romandie

Swiss rider victorious in Stage 5 while Nairo Quintana triumphs overall.

May 1, 2016
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The Swiss WorldTour stage race the Tour de Romandie had a Swiss winner in Sunday’s concluding day in Geneva, as Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) took victory after being in a long breakaway. Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) held onto the overall lead to take his second stage race triumph of the season.

As usual, there was a strong Colombian fan presence to celebrate Quintana’s achievement.


The final stage was hilly, but looked to be one for the sprinters. Several Giro d’Italia favourites like Marcel Kittel, Rigoberto Uran and Rafal Majka did not start, not wanting to risk illness from the chill and rain.


It took a while, but several riders including Saturday’s winner Chris Froome and Albasini scuttled away in the rain before the first of two Cat. 3 climbs. Included in the gang was Sander Armée (Belgium/Lotto-Soudal), determined to retake the King of the Mountains kit from Quintana. Armée topped the Châtel-St-Denis in the lead and took the virtual pink KOM jersey.

Not more than a 3:00 gap was allowed as the group of ten continued its adventure. Armée took maximum points on the last categorized climb of the 70th Tour de Romandie and the jersey was his.

Dimension Data seemed the most interested in hauling the fugitives back. With 35-km to go and the peloton 1:28 behind, Froome’s attacks started to fragment the break. BMC then became involved with the pace-making in the field. More attacks in the escape created a split with Albasini and three others–excluding Froome–going clear with 13-km remaining.

With 4-km before the line, the quartet enjoyed a 47-second lead. Impressively, Swiss Tom Bohli of BMC burst from the peloton and overtook the four inside the final kilometre, but then the peloton made the catch, Bohli was captured and the sprint began. Albasini would not be denied and his breakmates Andrey Amador (Costa Rica/Movistar) and Wilco Kelderman (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo) were second and third respectively.

The top of the GC all finished together in the bunch. Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ) will take heart at his fine runner-up performance and Quintana’s teammate Jon Izagirre will consider his third place up there with his Tour of Poland win last season.

2016 Tour de Romandie Stage 5
1) Michael Albasini (Switzerland/Orica-GreenEdge) 4:13:17
2) Andrey Amador (Costa Rica/Movistar) s.t.
3) Wilco Kelderman (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo) s.t.
74) Christian Meier (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.

2016 Tour de Romandie Final GC
1) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) 16:20:20
2) Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ) +0:20
3) Jon Izagirre (Spain/Movistar) +0:23
4) Ilnur Zakarin (Russia/Katusha) +0:26
5) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) +0:57