With Marcel Kittel being left behind on the final climb, Luka Mezgec got the chance to sprint for Giant-Shimano in today's second stage of the Tour de Romandie. However, a lapse in concentration saw him fall too far back on the final descent and so he lost all opportunities to take a top result.

The weather was better than the previous day but the parcours was still tough for the peloton on stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie. After just missing out on getting over the top of the climb with the front group yesterday, Luka Mezgec was riding to make amends and he did, making it over the two main climbs of the day and reached the finish in the front group.

On the run in, Mezgec lost his teammates and then got caught on the wrong side of the road at the finish, getting swamped and ending up outside of the top-10.

The day started with a breakaway of just two riders and they went on to spend most of the day out in front before being reeled in before the finish. This set up another sprint of around 90-riders from which Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) took his second stage win in succession and in doing so took over the race lead.

“I found the hills OK today and felt good but it is frustrating to miss out on the opportunity to sprint after a lapse in concentration,” said Mesgec after the finish.

“We started the last descent too far back and were fighting to make up ground when it was really hectic. This caused us to lose each other and in the last km it was just me and Albert. We were already too far back but he was bringing me forward well, until with about 500m to go I lost his wheel and this meant that I was on the wrong side of the road and totally blocked.

“It is disappointing as the team worked hard for me today but I am feeling good before the Giro which is important.”