Swiss road bicycle racer
Michael Albasini (born 20 December 1980) is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2020, for the Phonak, Liquigas, HTC–Highroad and Mitchelton–Scott teams.[3]
Professional career
Albasini began his career in 2003 with Phonak, moved to Liquigas–Bianchi at the beginning of 2005, and signed with Team Columbia–High Road for the 2009 season. From 2012 until his retirement, Albasini rode with the Australian professional cycling team GreenEDGE.[4]
In 2012, Albasini met success at the UCI World Tour race Volta a Catalunya. The six-stage event contained no time trials, and Albasini took the lead by triumphing on the very first stage over Anthony Delaplace from Saur–Sojasun, getting a 42 seconds overall lead.[5] On the very next stage, he was part of a select group of about 20 riders that were led to the line by Bradley Wiggins after a day in the mountains and he outsprinted his rivals, taking his second win in a row.[6] He held on to his advantage on the following hilly stages, winning the overall classification by 1 minute and 30 seconds over second-placed Samuel Sánchez of Euskaltel–Euskadi.[7]
In 2015, Albasini took a prestigious podium placing at the La Flèche Wallonne, coming in third place atop the Mur de Huy behind Alejandro Valverde and Julian Alaphilippe.[8] He later won the second stage of the Tour de Romandie, having the better in the sprint of a group of 49 riders who had survived the climb and descent of the Col de la Vue des Alpes.[9] He repeated the feat the very next day in Porrentruy, winning by a couple of bike lengths over Julian Alaphilippe.[10] He had to abandon the Tour de France on Stage 5, suffering from a broken arm after a crash.[11]
In October 2019, Albasini announced that he would retire from the sport after the 2020 Tour de Suisse.[12] Following that race's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, Albasini announced that he intended to extend his career to the end of the 2020 season.[13]
Major results
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Classics results timeline
References
External links
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