In the second stage of the Swiss cycling tour, Madis Mihkels (EF Education - EasyPost) crossed the finish line in 13th place, having the same time as his teammate Vincenzo Albanese, who came out on top. At the end of the day, those involved admitted that the original plan was to bet on the Estonian at the end.
The original plan was for Albanese to pull away from Mihkels at the end. But when several riders started to attack on the final climb, the Italian stayed calm, took the wind and forced several competitors to close the gap. The 28-year-old Italian made a sprint 200 meters from the finish and took a fairly convincing victory.
"This is my first WorldTour victory and at such a fantastic race in Switzerland. I'm very happy and I want to thank my whole team. Everyone did a great job in the final kilometers. I'm very, very happy," said Albanese.
This is Albanese's first victory since joining the EF Education-EasyPost team in the winter, and his first victory at WorldTour level.
"I felt good from the start. My role today was to pull away from Mad, but in the last kilometers Quinn Simmons and a few others attacked and I went with them. Then I saw that there were 200 meters to the finish and I gave it my all. This is my first WorldTour win and we'll see what happens in the next few days," he said.
The Swiss Tour consists of eight stages, today the race will be from Aarau to Heiden (195 km).
