Frigo in front

Frigo celebrates in the Swiss rain Keystone

Italian cyclist Dario Frigo has moved into the overall lead after winning stage two of the Tour de Romandie.

The Tacconi team rider, who is defending the title he won in western Switzerland last year, completed Thursday’s 156-kilometre stage from Glovelier to Charmey in a time of 3:45’11”.

A second day of torrential rain had earlier forced race organisers to shorten the stage by 17 kilometres, moving the start from its original location in Belleray.

Frigo’s performance was enough to see him wrest the leader’s yellow jersey off Belgium’s Rik Verbrugghe who has now slipped down to third in the overall rankings.

Switzerland’s Alexandre Moos remains in second place overall, just 11 seconds behind Frigo at the race’s halfway point.

Double disappointment for Zülle

Swiss favourite Alex Zülle came close to securing the stage victory but was unable to keep up with Frigo in a final dash which saw Zülle settle for second place on the day, four seconds behind Frigo.

There was even bigger disappointment for Zülle afterwards with the news that his Team Coast outfit have not been offered a wild card entry into world cycling’s biggest race, the Tour de France.

Tour organisers handed out five wild cards on Thursday, to Italian team Saeco and French squads Bonjour, Credit Agricole, La Francaise des Jeux and AG2R Prevoyance.

Asked about Team Coast’s omission, Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said the German team’s riders were “good but rather old.”

swissinfo with agencies