EF Education-EasyPost's sprint plan with Mihkels falls short as Albanese wins stage 2 in Switzerland
CyclingTuesday, 17 June 2025 at 09:10
Vincenzo Albanese has secured his first WorldTour victory. The 28-year-old Italian won the second stage of the Tour de Suisse, which is also the biggest victory of his career. Albanese was understandably 'very, very happy' with the result, especially as the EF Education-EasyPost rider was not actually expected to feature in the final.
"I felt good from the start," Albanese said in the flash interview after the stage. "My role was actually to provide the lead-out for Madis Mihkels. But in the last kilometer, several riders attacked, and I decided to follow." Albanese jumped behind Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), with Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) and Fabio Christen (Q36.5) also in pursuit.
Albanese then sprinted at the right moment and saw no one pass him. “I saw the signs for the last few hundred meters and then went full throttle to the finish line." After that, the rider, who claimed his last victory in the 2022 Tour du Limousin, could celebrate with his hands in the air.
First victory for Albanian at WorldTour level
EF Education-EasyPost's plan was actually to play Mihkels. The fast Estonian has shown several times this year that he can compete at this level, with a podium place in Bruges-De Panne and two fourteenth places in Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix. In recent years, the 22-year-old rode for Intermarché-Wanty in his first years as a professional. Mihkels finished thirteenth in the second stage of this Swiss stage race.
Albanese will also ride his first year in the EF Education-EasyPost jersey in 2025. In previous years, he rode for Arkéa-B&B Hotels, EOLO Komeet, and Bardiani, among others. In those years, he never won at the highest level until the second stage of the Tour de Suisse. "My first in the WorldTour, in such a beautiful race as here in Switzerland. I am thrilled and want to thank the team. They did a great job in the last kilometers. I am very happy," Albanese concluded.
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Latest Comments
- Two old men shouting at pigeons in the park…JonS16-06-2025
- Out of touch old men hankering after their youth through rose tinted spectacles, their arrogance almost outshines their irrelevance. Turn the volume down, this modern stuff just isn't music like we used to sing...johnny20whales16-06-2025
- In talking speed skating, the days when Heiden did that, nobody else did that. And Eddy couldn't do the equivalent of the bike. His 200 on the velodrome was good, but not world competitive for gold. Heiden was in his own world on the ice, moreso than Eddy if we pretend Eric didn't have a very short career on the ice.Veganpotter16-06-2025
- They wouldn't have dropped HIM so easily.... the GOAT. They would have dropped the rest from that era easily thoughVeganpotter16-06-2025
- Merckx was able to win in a break away on a flat (sprinters) stage, what do you mean they did not drop that easily in his time. Vlaeminck won in the mountains and the classics, but now you need to specialise. The days that a Eric Heiden could win the sprint and the 10k and everything in between are long gone and cycljng is no differentJoostmehrtens16-06-2025
- Carsapaz and Del torro were not capable of chasing Yates. They paused and looked at each other because they didn't have it in them. Yates had kept his powder dry waiting for this stage and demolished both of them. They lost Yates won. Your second guessing is utter nonsense., if either felt they could close Yates down they would have , just like they did countless times for other riders. They blew up , Yates excelled.Uphillbilly05-06-2025
- Carapaz is full of it. He is absolutely irrelevant after a rant at del Toro. Isaac had no obligations to do anything for Carapaz. It should remind one of the saying that goes lke this: "If I jump off the bridge, are you going to jump too?" If Caapaz wanted to win the Giro he should have chased Yates with or without Isaac. And if del Toro could follow, then so be it. But it was Carapaz's choice to slow down and stare at Isaac. Isaac was on the radio at times and you can bet he was being told by the Team car to do just what he was doing. Did I like that he didn't set out after Yates himself, NO. But the 21 year old was probably being instructed to do what he did, otherwise you can bet we would have heard from UAE mgmt. that Isaac chose to ignore their orders. But what we did hear was they were happy with his result. Which I think was a terrible betrayal of their young rider, who I think was capable of more than that penultimate stage showed. The Giro finished on a truly sour note as far as I'm concerned, because it was not "raced" The most crucial stage of the whole 21 stage race was simply given away, playing games with the unwritten rules of bicycle racing. "Leaders jerseys responsibility" and all that nonsense. Just RACE! It was disgraceful.
reemmo004-06-2025 - Well this aged like fine milkGlyn31-05-2025
- This is just mean-spirited.agnessk29-05-2025
- Something a bit misleading with this headline...mrbobke23-05-2025