Italian triumph in final stage of Tour de Romandie

Mario Cipollini won the last stage of this year's Tour de Romandie Keystone

Italy's Mario Cippolini has won the fifth and final stage of this year's Tour de Romandie after a thrilling sprint finish.

After a gruelling 178km endurance test from Saxon to the finishing line in the city of Geneva, Cippolini finished the race in 4 hours 9 minutes and 51 seconds, just ahead of Germany’s Danilo Hondo.

Cippolini has won the last stage of the Tour de Romandie five times in the course of his professional career. He has also won a total of twelve stage victories in the Swiss competition.

But it is Cippolini’s Italian compatriot, Dario Frigo, who has the most to celebrate. after taking first place in the overall standings and with it the prestigious Tour de Romandie title.

Frigo ended the tour just ahead of Spain’s Felix Garcia and the Italian Vladimir Belli.

The best Swiss performance of the day came from Alexandre Moos, who finished 14th. But Switzerland’s best rider of the tour was Sven Montgomery, who finished sixth in the overall standings.

The 25-year-old Montgomery, who comes from the Bernese Oberland, was the only Swiss who managed to keep pace with the leaders in the mountains.

But the Swiss cyclist missed his chance of winning on Saturday after making a tactical mistake, which left him trailing third behind Italy’s Gilberto Simoni and Spain’s Manuel Beltran. The mistake meant he lost out on the chance to take the first victory of his professional career.

swissinfo with agencies