Albasini Wins Royal Stage, 16. June 2012

Michael Albasini is the first Swiss rider to win a stage at this year?s Tour de Suisse. In the mountain holiday resort of Arosa, the rider from Eastern Switzerland celebrates a solo win after an escape of 135 km. Portuguese rider Rui Costa manages to defend the yellow jersey of the overall leader narrowly before tomorrow?s final stage.

Michael Albasini is the first Swiss rider to win a stage at this year?s Tour de Suisse. In the mountain holiday resort of Arosa, the rider from Eastern Switzerland celebrates a solo win after an escape of 135 km. Portuguese rider Rui Costa manages to defend the yellow jersey of the overall leader narrowly before tomorrow?s final stage.

At the beginning of today?s stage from Bischofszell to Arosa, a breakaway group of four riders launched a first attack and got away from the peloton. But in Chur, the capital of the canton of Grisons, and before the final climb up to Arosa, Thomas Dekker (NED) and Rémi Cusin (FRA) couldn?t keep up with the other two riders of this breakaway group anymore and had to let them pull away.

Albasini Leader of the Overall Climber Ranking

18 km before the finish in Arosa, Albasini launched another attack and managed to shake Peter Velits off ? the Slovak couldn?t keep up with the Swiss rider?s pace and fell behind. In the end, Albasini reached the finish line solo and with an advantage of 1:15 minutes ahead of his pursuers. As well as winning today?s stage, Albasini has now also taken over the lead in the overall climber ranking.

"I?m extremely happy. Everyone knew that I would launch an attack at some point today, as the stage also led through Gais, the small town where I live. But the end of the race was very difficult and hard today?, said Albasini after his third Tour de Suisse stage win in total. In 2005, he won the stage in Altdorf, and in 2009, he crossed the finish line as the first rider in Serfaus (AUT).

Excitement Guaranteed for Tomorrow?s Final Stage

Today?s stage has changed the situation at the top of the overall rankings before tomorrow?s final stage: After the time trial yesterday, Rui Costa set off with an overall advantage of 50 seconds today ? but he had to fight really hard to defend the yellow jersey. In the end, he had to be thankful to his teammate Alejandro Valverde, who supported the overall leader and was also responsible for the fact that the Portuguese will also be wearing the yellow jersey tomorrow.

Before tomorrow?s final stage from Näfels to Sörenberg in Central Switzerland, Costa is now leading the overall rankings with an advantage of just 14 seconds ahead of Fränk Schleck, 21 seconds ahead of Levi Leipheimer and 25 seconds ahead of Robert Gesink.