Tour de Romandie: Geraint Thomas loses lead as Michael Albasini wins

An ill-timed puncture saw Geraint Thomas lose his race lead and fall out of contention at the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday as Michael Albasini replaced him in the yellow jersey by sprinting to victory on stage two.

Thomas (Team Sky) had to stop for a wheel change just as the peloton began to break apart over the last of the 166.1km day’s four climbs and the Welshman was unable to catch back up.

A 49-rider lead group formed on the climb and subsequent descent to the finish in Saint-Imier, where Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) comfortably beat Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling) into second place and Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx – Quick-Step) into third.

The 10 bonus seconds Albasini collected for the win saw him move from eighth in the general classification to first, 10 seconds ahead of second-placed Ivan Santaromita (Orica-GreenEdge) and third-placed Chris Froome (Team Sky), who finished in the front group in 23rd.

Thomas eventually crossed the line 4min 12sec down on the leaders in 69th place and will now revert to supporting team leader Froome for the rest of the race.

There are still two Britons in overall contention, however, after Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) moved up to fourth, 10 seconds off the lead, thanks to a 29th-place finish on the day.

The six-day race continues on Thursday with a hilly 173.2km third stage from Moutier to Porrentruy.

Stage two result

1 Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica-GreenEdge, 4:21:43

2 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM Cycling, same time

3 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step, st

4 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cannondale-Garmin, st

5 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, st

6 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing, st

7 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, st

8 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica-GreenEdge, st

9 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st

10 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltn) Cannondale-Garmin, st

Selected others

23 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, st

69 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky, +4:12

General classification

1 Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica-GreenEdge, 4:42:52

2 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica-GreenEdge, +10secs

3 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, same time

4 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, st

5 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, +15

6 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha, st

7 Egor Silin (Rus) Katusha, st

8 Yuri Trofimov (Rus) Katusha, st

9 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, st

10 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step, +20