Snow may have caused organisers to shorten the route of the first road stage of the Tour de Romandie but it did not lessen the entertainment.
The 2,000m-high Simplon Pass was bypassed but the solitary ascent remaining en route – the category-two climb up to Lens – provided plenty of action.
Astana leader Vincenzo Nibali’s solo dig off the front – thanks to his phenomenal descending speed – looked at one point to be race-winning, only for it to fall short at 1500m from the finale.
Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) was next to try, but he too came up just short leaving Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) to sprint to victory.
And UCI WorldTour photographer Stefano Sirotti was on hand to capture the action from the shortened stage.
Relive the day’s events in the full-screen photo gallery below.
