On the 2nd stage of the Tour de Suisse, Madis Mihkels (EF Education - EasyPost) crossed the finish line in 13th place, finishing with the same time as his teammate Vincenzo Albanese, who took the win. At the end of the day, those involved admitted that the initial plan was to support the Estonian rider in the finale.
The original plan was for Albanese to lead out Mihkels at the end. However, when several riders started attacking on the final climb, the Italian remained calm, took their wheel, and forced several competitors to close the gap. The 28-year-old Italian launched his sprint 200 meters before the finish and secured a rather convincing victory.
"This is my first win at the WorldTour, and on such a fantastic race in Switzerland. I am very happy and want to thank my entire team. Everyone did a great job in the final kilometers. I am very, very happy," said Albanese.
This is Albanese's first victory since joining the EF Education-EasyPost team in the winter, and his first win at the WorldTour level.
"I felt good from the start. My role today was to lead out Madis, but in the final kilometers, Quinn Simmons and some others attacked, and I went with them. Then I saw there were 200 meters to the finish and I gave it my all to the end. This is my first WorldTour win, and we'll see what happens in the coming days," he said.
The Tour de Suisse consists of eight stages; today, the race will go from Aarau to Heiden (195 km).
