A leading group of 5 riders made the show in the stage between Ascona and Sierre today. Three of the riders of this leading group were taken back only in the last kilometers and the stage finally ended in a bunch sprint which was won by Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam), ahead of Pablo Urtasun of the Euskaltel-Euskadi team, Marco Marcato of the Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team and the sprinter of the Rabobank team, Oscar Freire.

The summary of the second stage of the Tour of Switzerland 2010

Early this afternoon the 167 riders of the Tour of Switzerland 2010 took the start in Ascona at the Lago Maggiore for a 167.5 kilometer long stage with its finish in Sierre. During this stage the riders climbed the Simplonpass (1st category) with its top in the middle of the stage. In the circuit around the finish city they climbed a short 3rd category climb at Valençon followed after its descent by a plain part towards the finish on the Route de la Plaine.

The start in Ascona was quite chaotic, first of all because at the signatures the riders didn't have any support to put their bikes on, so they put them one on another against the barriers or even to take some acrobatic tours to keep two bikes up one against another (see photo). The start arch was a bit towards the city center and some of the riders went there. When the start sign was given they started but they had to stop again ... a few meters further at the level of the race direction and all the other riders. After several attempts for a grouped start from there, they finally really left about ten minutes later under a shiny sun.

Rapidly a leading group of 5 riders was formed by Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team), Mathias Frank (BMC Racing Team), Aitor Hernandez Gutiérrez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Joost van Leijen (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) and Matthias Russ of the Team Milram. At the foot of the climb of the Simplonpass the gap of these 5 riders on the peloton was 6'20" at that time and the climb of the first difficulty of the Tour of Switzerland 2010 took place in very bad weather conditions with fog, rain and cold.

At the top of the Simplonpass the Spanish rider Aitor Hernandez is the first to arrive on top, ahead of the Swiss rider Mathias Frank and the German Matthias Russ. Hernandez thus virtually took the polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountains classification. The peloton arrived on top 5'06" later.

In the last part of the stage the road became dry again and the whole HTC-Columbia took place at the head of the peloton to bring down the gap with the leading group to prepare a bunch sprint for Mark Cavendish. At the first crossing of the finish line, the gap was down to only 2'07".

In the last climb, Mathias Frank attacked from the leading group and only Pavel Brutt manages to bridge the gap and get back on him. In this climb, one of Frank's team mates, Steve Morabito, gets away from the peloton. The BMC Racing Team rider is however taken back before the top and several attacks follow but no single rider manages to get away from the peloton.

At the top Matthias Frank takes the points for the King of the Mountains classification, ahead of Brutt and the peloton follows at 53 seconds. In the descent Brutt takes some risks and gets on the side of the road, slowing down just in time to prevent him from falling. At that time Matthias Russ, who was initially in the leading group, gets back on the two leading riders again.

In the last intermediate sprint the points for the classification by points are for Matthias Russ, who crosses the line ahead of Frank and Brutt. When the leading group is almost taken back at about 4 kilometers from the finish, only Pavel Brutt resists. Finally the Russian rider is also taken back and the bunch sprint gets prepared. The last climb did however already make a first selection and the usual sprinters like Mark Cavendish and Tom Boonen are thus no longer in the first group. In this group, Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) has the best legs today and he finishes the stage a few centimeters ahead of Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team).

The comments after the stage

On the finish line, Mark Cavendish's reaction was short and clear: It was too hard for me and he of course talked about the last climb ...

Mathias Frank who was in the leading group in today's stage, declared at the end of it: the strategy of the team was to have a rider in the leading group so the other riders could stay relaxed in the peloton.

We had a good winds and I thus thought we might be able to continue till the finish. Steve Morabito and Alexandre Moos explained me how the climb of the Simplonpass was and I thus tried to get the King of the Mountains jersey.

Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) than joined the press room, happy to have kept the yellow leader's jersey so he can show it off on the roads of his own canton, Bern: I'm very happy because I've reached my goal. My team has worked quite hard for me. (smiling) For tomorrow, I quite well know the stage and the finish in Schwarzenburg will be difficult. We'll arrive there with 60 kilometers an hour, get over a small bridge and get on a very very steep climb.

Today, in the climb of the Simplonpass it was up to us to impose our rhythm and especially Stuart O'Grady has worked quite hard.

The question whether he could confirm he didn't really insist in the final sprint, Spartacus first answered smiling: If I would have done that, you would have spoken about having a motor in my bike! before continuing: The Rabobank team insisted for a victory for Oscar Freire and I was not really fresh anymore so I indeed didn't really insist.

A new victory in the Tour of Switzerland is still a dream for me but the riders who are here are very good so I'm not really sure whether I'll be able to do it again.

The winner of the stage, Heinrich Haussler explained he saw this victory as a liberation after some difficulties at the start of the season: I had some health problems, especially with my knee and it became worse in the Tour of California where I gave up. I thus had some discussions with the management of the team and this victory is thus a real liberation for me. Concerning the sprint he said: We had a bad wind and there were many riders of the Rabobank team while I was completely alone. I thus thought I didn't have a chance to win but in the last few meters I accelerated anyway and I'm thus very happy with this victory.

Concerning the first climb of this stage, he declared: I would have hoped the climb of the Simplonpass would have been faster to make a first selection, but that wasn't the case.
The changing weather conditions didn't really help, but since I just had a training camp in Sankt Moritz I was really good in the climb.

Tonight the match Germany - Australia in the FIFA World Cup will take place in South Africa. With his double origin German/Australian, the question was thus how he saw this match: I think I prefer the Aussies" to win anyway. By the way, what time is it? I have to go watch that ...

The classifications after the second stage of the Tour of Switzerland 2010

The stage classification for Ascona > Sierre

The following riders formed the top 10 of this stage:

1/ Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) - 4h25'16" (37,886 km/h)
2/ Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
3/ Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team)
4/ Oscar Freire (Rabobank)
5/ Gerald Ciolek (Team Milram)
6/ José Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne)
7/ Fabio Felline (Footon-Servetto)
8/ Simon Gerrans (Team Sky)
9/ Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-Farnese Vini)
10/ Carlos Barredo (Quick Step)

General classification

Since Fabian Cancellara finished the stage in the first group, at the 12th place, he keeps his leading place in the general classification. After these two stages, Team Saxo Bank and Team Sky are quite well represented in the top 10 of this classification:

1/ Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) - 4h35'37"
2/ Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) - +0'01"
3/ Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) - +0'03"
4/ Dries Devenijns (Quick Step) - +0'10"
5/ Gustav Erik Larsson (Team Saxo Bank) - +0'11"
6/ Thomas Lövkvist (Team Sky) - +0'12"
7/ Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) - +0'13"
8/ Jakob Fuglsang (Team Saxo Bank) - +0'13"
9/ Nicolas Castroviejo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - +0'14"
10/ Matthias Russ (Team Milram) - +0'15"

Classement par points

Avec sa victoire d'étape, Heinrich Haussler prend également la tête dans le classement par points. Voici le top 5 de ce classement :

1/ Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) - 20 points
2/ Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - 20 points
3/ Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) - 19 points
4/ Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) - 16 points
5/ Oscar Freire (Rabobank) - 13 points

King of the Mountains classification

By taking the second place at the Simplonpass and the first in Valençon, the young Mathias Frank finally takes the polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountains classification with 1 point more than Aitor Hernandez:

1/ Mathias Frank (BMC Racing Team) - 13 points
2/ Aitor Hernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - 12 points
3/ Matthias Russ (Team Milram) - 8 points
4/ Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team) - 7 points
5/ Joost van Leijen (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) - 2 points

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Tour of Switzerland | Tour of Switzerland 2010 | UCI ProTour

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