Giacomo Nizzolo again proved his excellent condition when he was one of just a select few sprinters to survive the climb at the end of today's first stage of the Tour de Romandie. However, a crash on the descent denied him the chance to show off his sprinting skills.

The decision was made by the organization to move the start of the race beyond the 2000-meter high Simplon Pass, cutting the stage to a brief 88.6 kilometers. Only a category two climb remained in the parcours with 18 kilometers remaining, and without the looming mountain pass the dynamics of the race changed from favoring climbers, to opening the stage to sprinters who could make it over the final stair-stepped, long climb.

“The forecast last night said after 11 this morning it would be snowing on the Simplon,” said director Alain Gaollopin, explaining the decision to shorten the race. “So the organization made a good decision. We were allowed to pass with the cars before 11, and we saw the snow on the pass when we drove over it. It would have been very, very cold on the downhill even if it did not snow. It was a perfect decision, because we need to protect our riders.”

A three-man breakaway attacked just after the flag dropped, but the Omega Pharma-QuickStep led peloton kept a firm grasp on the trio and they were easily swept up by the bottom of the climb.

Giacomo Nizzolo looked comfortable on the lower slopes, and even as the grade steepened in the final kilometer and the attacks began, he remained in contention. With his strong descending skills, and teammate Jesse Sergent by his side, it appeared he would finish with the front group until a crash in a tricky corner on the descent held him up.

“Not a lot of guys made it over the top of the climb, and Giacomo was there, but when he was caught behind the crash on the descent he never came back,” Gallopin continued. “Jesse did a fantastic job – but in the end they did not quite make it, and they finished in the second group."

The attacks on the final part of the climb paired with a tricky, technical descent resulted in a diminished group that entered the final kilometers to contest the sprint. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) made for a fast and exciting finish after he used his superior descending skills and gained over 20 seconds by the bottom. However, with a furious chase from behind Nibali was caught, and Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) sprinted to the victory ahead of Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp). 

Riccardo Zoidl finished in 47th place, safely protecting his general classification hopes.

“Our main focus is to watch Riccardo, and he was in the front group, so that was good,” said Gallopin. “We also hoped that Giacomo would make it over the climb; he was very close, very close - he was almost there. It’s too bad. It’s like this. Anyway, what Giacomo showed today is that he is in very good shape. Tomorrow is hard and we still have to sit down and see what the plan will be, but we have more options with Giacomo riding so strong.”

Michal Kwiatkowski (Omerga Pharma-QuickStep) continues to lead the overall, with Riccardo Zoidl sitting in 31st place (+24".)