With a powerful uphill sprint, Bauke Mollema (Blanco) won the second stage of the Tour de Suisse yesterday.

In the final kilometre, the Blanco Pro Cycling Team rider broke clear from the leading group to catch up with leader Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), whom he subsequently dropped unceremoniously. Mollema ended up soloing to the finish.

“This is the biggest win of my career. It’s been a while since I’ve won. The last time was about three years ago in the Tour of Poland. I’m very happy with this victory,” Mollema explained on the Blanco website.

When Mollema drew a bead on Hesjedal, he knew he was going to win. “I felt it, because I knew I had built up a nice gap to the peloton. The guys did an excellent job in helping me. Going into the finale, I told them I felt really good and that’s when they rushed to the front of the bunch to increase the pace so that Hesjedal couldn’t get further away. I want to ride a good GC here. A podium finish would be nice, although that’s going to be slightly more difficult now because of my time penalty.” Mollema received a twenty second penalty from the jury because in the last twenty kilometres he received a bottle from out of a chase car.

For Mollema his victory is evidence that his altitude training in the Sierra Nevada has immediately paid off. “Up there, in the mountains, I already noticed I really had some power in my legs. Hopefully, I can take this good form with me into the Tour de France.”