

The 28-year-old Italian kicked with 200 meters to go and accelerated around the final corner, a huge grin spread across his face. He shouted for joy as he crossed the line. It took quick thinking and a massive team effort, but his first victory at the top level of the sport was his.
“It’s my first victory in the WorldTour, and in this fantastic race in Switzerland. I’m very happy and I’d like to thank all my team. It was a fantastic job from all of them in the final kilometers. I’m very, very happy,” Vincenzo said once he had caught his breath.
The team took care of Vincenzo all day, with stage 2 of the race from Aarau to Schwarzsee comprising of almost 2,500 meters of vertical climbing. Inside the final 20 kilometers, Albanese and his teammates took control of the peloton, positioning Vincenzo and fellow sprinter Madis Mihkels near the front of the race and ensuring that the remnants of the early break were caught before the line
A few last-ditch attacks were neutralized in the closing stages before Albanese and Mihkels were dropped off under the red kite with around one kilometer to go.
The initial plan was for Vincenzo to lead out Mihkels, but when several riders attacked on the uphill drag towards the line, the Italian remained calm, jumped on their wheels, and forced several rivals to close gaps. He kicked once to open up space on his left-hand side, and his second acceleration took him all the way to the line.
This victory marks Albanese’s first win since joining EF Education-EasyPost, and his first triumph at WorldTour level.
“I felt good from the start. My role today was to lead out Madis, but in the last kilometers Quinn Simmons and some other guys attacked, and I followed. Then I saw that it was 200 meters from the finish and I went full towards the line. This is my first WorldTour victory and we’ll see what happens in the next few days,” he said.
Race Highlights
The attacks on this 177 kilometer stage to Schwarzsee began immediately after the start in Aarau. The three-man breakaway of Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) and Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché – Wanty) managed to distance themselves from the field. While Silvan Dillier was swallowed up by the peloton with around 50 kilometers to go, the other two made it through to the final sprint prize.
Not long thereafter, Jonas Rutsch faded and Schmid found himself on his own. The Swiss rider took the last KOM honors before also bowing out of the contest. Nevertheless, with the time spent in the breakaway he was voted the most combative rider of the day.
ROMAIN GREGOIRE RETAINS THE YELLOW LEADER’S JERSEY
The next Swiss rider tried his luck with around two and a half kilometers left in the stage. Following his painful crash yesterday, Jan Christen made a bold move and pulled away from the field by around ten seconds. Unfortunately, he was caught with just under a kilometer remaining, missing out on a Swiss stage win.
In the end, Albanese outsprinted Fabio Christen and Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) to seize the day’s honors. .
Today’s stage had no major impact on the General Classification. Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) defends the yellow jersey. 25 seconds behind him is Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and another 2 seconds behind are Bart Lemmen (Team Visma | Lease A Bike) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling Team). Matteo Badilatti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) is still the best Swiss rider in the General Classification in 14th place, 1:37 minutes behind.