Predictor-Lotto's Robbie McEwen scored his first win since his stage one victory in Tirreno-Adriatico, sprinting to victory ahead of a crash in stage two of the Tour de Romandie, a 166.9 km stage between La Chaux-de-Fonds and Lucens.
Bunch sprints are scarce in the Swiss event, and most of the big-name sprinters are preparing for the Giro d'Italia elsewhere. However, McEwen showed his class with a late surge for the line that brought him in a bike length ahead of Slovenia's Burt Bozic and Italy's Enrico Gasparotto.
"I felt very bad all day and I was a little bit lucky. I only followed and I'm very happy because it was my only chance to win a stage this year," said the Brisbane rider.
Overall classification leader Paolo Savoldelli was held up by a spectacular crash which marred the finale, but still retained his overall lead for the third day running. The crash, which took place when Italy's Leonardo Duque hit the tarmac in the middle of the bunch, involved half a dozen riders, including Saunier Duval's David Millar, but despite the dramatic nature of the wreck, no riders were seriously injured.
At 34, McEwen is one of the very best sprinters in the world, with more than 130 victories behind him, including 11 stage wins in both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. He also clinched the prestigious green jersey at "La Grande Boucle" three times. But today's win was a spectacular reverse of fortunes for the Predictor-Lotto rider, who finished last in the prologue and again in the first stage.
"There was no point in taking risks," he explained. "In the prologue, I almost crashed in the first turn on the wet road, and I had cramps yesterday so I did not fight. I just put on the smallest gear and rode to the finish," he said.
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But McEwen, who won stages in the Tour Down under and Tirreno-Adriatico this year, had enough class and experience left to outshine the rest of the field once he had made sure of finishing with them.
"It's a matter of instinct and making the right decisions at the right time," he also said.
McEwen's priorities have always been to win stages on the big Tours and it is what he intends to do again in the Giro, later this month. In the longer term, the Australian is determined to finish the Tour de France in the hope to win again the green jersey for the points classification.
"In a race like here, I know I have an extra gear. But in the Giro, I will be back with my friends Alessandro Petacchi or Thor Hushovd, and it will be a much different race," he said.
