LOECHE-LES-BAINS, Switzerland, 15 June 2006 — Gangly Swiss rider Steve Morabito of the Phonak team showed he felt right at home by posting his first win as a professional cyclist in the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland yesterday.
The 23-year-old local boy outmaneuvered his last rival from a breakaway, Belgian Jurgen Van Goolen, to take honors in a hill finish at Loeche-les-Bains after a long 229.5km stage in blistering heat.
Next home was Spaniard Angel Vicioso, riding for Astana-Wurth, enabling him to don the yellow jersey after his stage win on Tuesday.
Morabito and Discovery Channel’s Van Goolen, part of a group of six which split from the peloton at the 46km mark, were able to pull clear of their four friends at the foot of the steady 13km slope to the line.
And despite a cracking pace set by German Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile team, a three-minute buffer kept the pair clear of danger.
“I saw there was a headwind at the finish. I pretended to begin to sprint too far out and Van Goolen grabbed the bait,” Morabito said.
“He went in front at 300m. I knew it was all over,” grinned the 1.87m Valais native whose first love was basketball before mountain bikes turned him onto cycling.
In his first season as a professional in the Phonak colors the Swiss admitted he had struggled to adjust to the tempo but gained confidence after the Tour of Catalonia.
“I love the mind games,” he said.
However, close was not quite enough for Van Goolen who returned to racing only in mid-May after breaking his hip in a heavy fall in Portugal at the start of the season.
