Lampre’s Francesco Casagrande won the 177m fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland Saturday, reaching the summit finish at La Punt with enough of a margin to take the overall lead in the Swiss national tour. Casagrande, who began the day six seconds behind overall leader, Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom), at the start of the stage, finished 39sec ahead of the Kazakh following the 20km ascent of the Col du Albula at 2315m altitude. When Casagrande attacked only Vinokourov could stay with him though he soon concluded the effort was taking a toll on him and eased off as the Italian continued on.

"I was starting to go into the red," said Vinokourov. "I thought it was better to let him go. He was the strongest rider today. If I can limit losses on Sunday I will be in a good position for Tuesday's time-trial."

Casagrande thought he needed more time if he was realistically going to win the tour.

"Ideally I would like to gain another 40 seconds to have about a minute and 10 seconds on him going into the time trial," he said.

If Casagrande wants to be in a good position by the final day, it will require a lot of effort.

San Bernardino Pass

Photo: Graham Watson

On Sunday the riders leave from the ride down Saturday’s finishing climb before attacking the Lenzerheide climb and the 2284m col de Julier before finishing at Silvaplana. Stage 5 Results
Ascona - La Punt

1. Francesco Casagrande (I), Lampre, 177.800 km in 5:09:34 (34.461kph)
2. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Telekom, 00:39
3. Alexandre Moos (Swi), Phonak, 00:47
4. Giuseppe Guerini (I), Telekom
5. Tadej Valjavec (SLO), Fassa Bortolo, 00:49
6. Sven Montgomery (Swi), Fassa Bortolo
7. Kim Kirchen (Lux), Fassa Bortolo, 1:10
8. Seweryn Kohut (Pol), CCC Polsat, 2:33
9. Sandy Casar (F), FDJeux.com, 2:52
10. Wladimir Belli (I), Lampre
Full Results Below