Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) won the second stage of the Tour de Romandie between Thierrrens and Neuchâtel in slightly controversial fashion. The Kazak was sprinting side by side with breakaway companion Mikael Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale) when he moved slightly to his left. The Frenchman was almost trapped against the barriers and so had to check his sprint; Vinokourov crossed the line in celebration with Cherel waving his arm in protest, but the result was allowed to stand.
Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad), who had initiated the late breakaway, was third, with Ben Swift (Team Sky) leading the much-reduced peloton home just behind him.
"In the last kilometres," said Vinokourov after the stage, "I was with Tiralongo and I hesitated to attack but I thought it was too early with 3km to the finish, but when I saw Tony Martin going go, I knew I would not let him alone, because I know he could have gone through, and I also thought about the time trial. When I saw that the bunch wasn’t catching us to 500 meters, I realized that it could work. I've always been a rider who attacks, since the beginning of my career I have always attacked, but now with experience, I feel the race and I can recognize the right moment to go."
As for the protests of Cherel, Vinokourov was unsympathetic to the Frenchman's complaint, blaming him for taking the wrong side.
"I positioned myself near the barrier on the left side of the road from the last 200 metres and I made my sprint properly," he said, "nothing prevented him from positioning himself on the right, it is unfortunate for him, but it’s not debatable."
True to form, the stage was dominated by a long breakaway as four riders got clear almost as soon as the flag had been dropped at the end of the neutral zone. Ignatas Konovalovas (Movistar), Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Alexandr Kuschynski (Katusha) and Jerome Cousin (Europcar) were the ones to get away and by the time they had reached the chilly-sounding town of Froideville after 20km, they led by 3’25”.
The quartet’s advantage reduced slightly before increasing once more; at the 50km point it had opened up to 4’45”, before reducing gradually as the race crossed the flat section between the two hilly areas.
As the first category climb to Enges began, with around 50km to go, the lead was down to just 2’45” and Cousin found the pace of his three companions too much. Meanwhile behind them, Dmitryi Muravyev (RadioShack), Rob Ruygh (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Pierre Rolland (Europcar) escaped the peloton; the four riders didn’t get far but the acceleration within the bunch caused it to split into a number of pieces.
Sørensen led the breakaway over the top, now just 1’55” ahead; Cousin soon rejoined the leaders but, on the rolling roads on the approach to the final climb, he found himself dropped once more.
With 20km to go, on the second category climb to Lignières, Sørensen decided to go it alone.
"Having had a bad first day down here, I'm now feeling sharp and powerful and I'm happy to be out there in the front,” said the Dane after the stage. “Unfortunately, there was a headwind on the flat stretch to the final climb which surely slowed me down compared to the chasing pack. I feel good and it's really good for the confidence to experience that the great condition is showing."
Behind him in the peloton Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) made a move; he was managed to build himself a small gap and the resultant acceleration in the peloton saw more riders dropped and the size of the front group shrank further.
Cousin was recaptured before he could get to the top of the climb, but the other three breakaway riders managed to get over in front, with just 18km to go. On the descent towards the final flat section though, they were reeled in one by one.
Kuschynski was the next to be recaptured, followed by Txurruka, then Konovalovas; Sørensen managed to last until 5km to go before finally giving in to the shrunken peloton.
Almost immediately, a counter attack came from Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), but his brief escape was only to last a single kilometre as Astana and AG2R La Mondiale led the peloton. As Westra was caught though, with 3km to go, Martin launched a powerful attack and opened a wide gap over the rest.
Vinokourov and Cherel managed to jump across to Martin as he headed towards the final kilometre and the three of them reached the finishing straight together.
As Vinokourov and Cherel opened up their sprints it was clear that Martin didn’t have the legs to compete and he was left behind with a few hundred metres to go. Vinokourov accelerated quite close to the left hand barrier and, as Cherel went to move up the narrow gap the Kazak twitched to his left slightly, causing the Frenchman to check.
Vinokourov crossed the line, punching the air with one fist; Cherel too had one hand off the bars, but his was waving towards the Kazakh in protest. Despite his protestations though, the result was allowed to stand, giving Vinokourov his second victory of the season.
With the peloton given the same time, Pavel Brutt (Katusha) holds on to the yellow jersey, but time bonuses on the line mean that Vinokourov moves into second place.