Erik Zabel won a hotly-contested sprint at the end the191km second stage of the Tour de Switzerland, beating Phonak's Sven Teutenberg by a tire-width on Thursday.

Zabel outsprinted the field after 4:15:30 in the saddle, leaving Teutenberg to accept the runners-up place for the second day running.

But the win still wasn't enough to take the yellow jersey away from the gutsy young French rider Eddy Lembo (Oktos) who holds on to a 49-second lead over prologue-winner Alex Zülle (Coast), after winning Wednesday's stage by slightly more than one minute.

Lembo finished in the field Thursday as the the front pack battled out for position with Zabel emerging victorious after his Telekom team formed up it's finishing "train" 10 km from the finish.

The team worked perfectly to deliver Zabel to the right spot as he launched his finishing sprint 300 meters from the line.

Lembo still in the lead

Photo: Graham Watson

With the Tour de France just over two weeks away Zabel, soon to be 32, feels he has got his preparation just right.

"I've prepared with a triple of the Tour of Barvaria, Tour of Germany and now the Tour of Switzerland and everything is working well at the moment," said Zabel.

The Swiss race moves to the mountains for the next four days starting on Friday with the 158-km stage from Domat Ems to Samnaun, cresting the 2383-meter Fluela Pass.