Australian Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) won Thursday’s second stage of the Tour de Romandie in a sprint finish marred by a fall in the final yards.

Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) escaped unscathed to retain the leader's yellow jersey after Colombian Leonardo Duque took a tumble in the last 150 meters, bringing down several riders in the bunched pack, including Briton David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir).

Slovenian Borut Bozic (Team LPR) was second, followed by Italian Enrico Gasparotto (Liquigas).

Crosbie gets his 15 minutes

Photo: Graham Watson

"In the sprint I got into a good position. And I'm really happy because it's my only chance to win a stage here," McEwen said after the 166.9km stage through the plateau and soft hills of western Switzerland.

"I felt bad all day, I really didn't get a good feeling," said the Australian, who hinted that Saturday's crunch mountain stage could prove to be his undoing.

McEwen said he planned to make it through to "Saturday and see how far I get, because it's not really something for me."

French rider Nicolas Crosbie (Bouygues Telecom) was a lone break for most of the race, opening up a nine-minute lead before the hilly final 40km took their toll on his legs.

The Milram and Euskaltel-Euskadi teams took turns to drive the main peloton, joined by the yellow jersey's Astana team in the closing miles.

The peloton rejoined Crosbie with just 17km to go and stifled any other adventures, but stretched out and broke up into two groups as the pace accelerated in the final straight into Lucens.

French rider Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux), fourth heading into the stage and rated as an outside chance for the six-day Tour de Romandie overall victory, also showed signs of pushing the pace.

Milram drives the chase

Photo: Graham Watson

"This is a first test ahead of the Tour de France because I have done much mountain riding this year," Casar said.

"There's always something to play for. I think the leaders haven't shown themselves yet," he added.

About two dozen riders in the leading group were credited with the same time as McEwen after the crash briefly blocked the path to the finishing line.

Tour de Romandie
Stage 2
1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, 4:01:41
2. Borut Bozic (Slo), Team LPR, same time
3. Enrico Gasparotto (I), Liquigas, s.t.
4. Julian Dean (NZ), Crédit Agricole, s.t.
5. Martin Elmiger (Swi), Ag2r, s.t.
6. Gregory Henderson (NZ), T-Mobile, s.t.
7. Igor Abakoumov (B), Astana, s.t.
8. Aitor Galdos (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t
9. Mirco Lorenzetto (I), Milram, s.t.
10. Markus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.

Overall
1. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Astana, 8:15:14
2. Roman Kreuziger (Cze), Liquigas, at 0:05
3. Christopher Horner (USA), Predictor-Lotto, s.t.
4. Markus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, at 0:06
5. Sandy Casar (F), Française des Jeux, s.t.
6. Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz), Astana, at 0:09
7. Patrick Calcagni (Swi), Liuigas, at 0:10
8. Francisco Perez (Sp), Caisse d’Epargen, s.t.
9. Enrico Gasparotto (I), Liquigas, at 0:11
10. Hubert Schwab (Swi), Quick Step-Innergetic, s.t.