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Aussie McEwen wins Tour de Romandie second stage

Riders fall on the asphalt during the sprint to the finish line of the second stage from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Lucens at the Tour de Romandie Protour cycling race in Lucens, Switzerland, on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

Australian Robbie McEwen of Predictor-Lotto on Thursday won the second stage of the Tour de Romandie in a sprint finish which was marred by a fall in the final yards of the race.

Italian Paolo Savoldelli escaped unscathed to retain the leader's yellow jersey after Colombian Leonardo Duque took a tumble in the last 150m, bringing down several riders in the bunched pack including Briton David Millar.

Slovenian Borut Bozic was second, followed by Italian Enrico Gasparotto.

"In the sprint I got into a good position. And I'm really happy because it's my only chance to win a stage here," McEwen said after the 166.9km stage through the plateau and hills of western Switzerland.

"I felt bad all day, I really didn't get a good feeling," said the Australian, who hinted that today's crunch mountain stage could prove to be his making.

McEwen said he planned to make it through to "Saturday and see how far I get, because it's not really something for me."

New Zealanders Julian Dean and Gregory Henderson narrowly missed the podium in fourth and sixth place. Last year's Romandie winner, Cadel Evans of Australia, remained just 14s adrift in the overall standings.

France's Nicolas Crosbie led a lone break for most of the race, opening up a nine minute lead before the hilly final 40km took their toll on his legs.

The Milram and Euskaltel teams took turns to drive the main peloton, joined by the yellow jersey's Astana team in the closing kilometers.

The peloton rejoined Crosbie with just 17km to go and stifled any other adventures, but stretched out and broke up into two groups as the pace accelerated in the final straight into Lucens.

French rider Sandy Casar, fifth in the overall standings and rated as an outside chance for the six-day Tour de Romandie, also showed signs of pushing the pace.

"This is a first test ahead of the Tour de France because I have done much mountain riding this year," Casar said.

"There's always something to play for. I think the leaders haven't shown themselves yet," he added.

About two dozen riders in the leading group were credited with the same time as McEwen after the crash briefly blocked the path to the finishing line.
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