Yesterday’s victory in the GP Kanton Aargau was Albasini’s second win of the season, and also his second in the biggest Swiss one-day race.

Held two days before the Tour de Suisse, the race had a high-quality field. Orica-GreenEdge played their cards well, and a team effort put Albasini in the winning position after being able to conserve energy for most of the race.

“It was a fast start,” Albasini recapped the race. “The break went quite early. We were covered in the move by Daryl Impey. It was perfect for us because we knew if the break went to the line, we had a good chance. Daryl was the fastest in the group. Only Astana and Vacansoleil had missed the move. They did the work to bring it back together.”

“It was a chaotic finale with the situation changing after every half lap. Near the end of the race, we had Stuey [Stuart O’Grady], Sebastian [Langeveld] and Impey in a group of around ten riders. This allowed me to stay safe behind and watch the action as it happened.”

“Kolobnev was caught with at 1.5 kilometres,” said Albasini. “There were only 12 guys in the sprint, and I had enough to take the win. I wasn’t sure what to expect of my condition. It’s my first race since Romandie, and I just came back yesterday from training at altitude. I’m a bit surprised to do so well today.”

“It was a perfect, coherent effort from the team,” said Sport Director Vittorio Algeri. “It’s great to see Michael pull off the win. He did a great performance backed up by a solid team. It’s really great for Michael’s confidence to take a win like this going into Tour de Suisse and Nationals. It’s an important win for the team as we build the bridge into the next part of our season.”

“It’s always nice to win in front of the family,” added Albasini. “I didn’t have a chance to see them at the start, but I saw them during the race and a little bit after I had won. I’ll go home tonight because I live quite close to here. We can celebrate as a family, but we won’t celebrate too much. Tour de Suisse starts Saturday, and we have some big goals for the week.”