Switzerland's Alex Zülle remains the strong favourite for this year's Tour de Suisse title with eight days of the ten-day cycling race now complete.

Following Monday's stage win for Alexandre Moos in Verbier, the Swiss were forced to take a back seat during Tuesday's 171km stretch from Martigny to Vevey with Spain's Juan-Manuel Garate being awarded the day's victory.

Garate actually crossed the finish line in second place on Tuesday, but the apparent winner, Gianluca Bortolami of Italy, was later disqualifed by the race jury for elbowing his way to the front.

The jostling up ahead did nothing to threaten Zülle's lead in the overall standings however, with the 33-year-old from St Gallen preserving his 11-second margin over fellow Swiss Laurent Dufaux.

Poland's Piotr Wadecki was able to move up into third place, 25 seconds behind Zülle, at the expense of Austria's Peter Luttenberger.

If he is to win his first Tour de Suisse title, Zülle must hold onto his lead for just two more days.

On Wednesday the riders embark on the longest stage of this year's Tour, a 235km race from Vevey to Lyss, before contesting a potentially decisive time trial stage finishing at the Expo.02 national exhibition site in Biel.

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