Michael Albasini (born 20 December 1980) is a Switzerland former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2020, for the , , and teams.
Professional career
Albasini began his career in 2003 with , moved to at the beginning of 2005, and signed with for the 2009 season. From 2012 until his retirement, Albasini rode with the Australian professional cycling team .
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 , getting a 42 seconds overall lead. 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. 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 .
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. 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. He repeated the feat the very next day in Porrentruy, winning by a couple of bike lengths over Julian Alaphilippe. He had to abandon the Tour de France on Stage 5, suffering from a broken arm after a crash.
In October 2019, Albasini announced that he would retire from the sport after the 2020 Tour de Suisse. 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.
Major results
Source:
- 1998
- 1st Road race, National Junior Road Championships
- 2001
- 4th Overall Ster Elektrotoer
- 6th Overall Grand Prix Guillaume Tell
- 2002
- 1st Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
- 5th Overall Grand Prix Guillaume Tell
- 7th Overall GP Kranj
- :1st Stage 1
- 7th Giro del Lago Maggiore
- 2004
- 5th Züri-Metzgete
- 9th Paris–Bourges
- 2005
- Tour de Suisse
- :1st Sprints classification
- :1st Stage 5
- 7th Overall Three Days of De Panne
- 10th Giro della Romagna
- 2006
- Tour de Suisse
- :1st Mountains classification
- :1st Sprints classification
- 3rd Grand Prix de Fourmies
- 2007
- 5th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
- :1st Stage 4
- 2008
- 2nd Overall Tour de Luxembourg
- :1st Stage 3
- 2nd GP Miguel Induráin
- 3rd Overall Tour Méditerranéen
- 6th Tour du Haut Var
- 7th La Flèche Wallonne
- 8th Gran Premio di Lugano
- 2009
- 1st Overall Tour of Austria
- :1st Stage 2
- 1st Stage 4 Tour of the Basque Country
- 1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse
- 9th La Flèche Wallonne
- 2010
- 1st Overall Tour of Britain
- :1st Stage 3
- 4th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 10th La Flèche Wallonne
- 2011
- 1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
- 1st Stage 13 Vuelta a España
- 1st Mountains classification, Tour of the Basque Country
- 3rd Overall Bayern Rundfahrt
- :1st Stage 3
- 4th Overall Tour of Oman
- 2012
- 1st Overall Volta a Catalunya
- :1st Stages 1 & 2
- 1st Stage 8 Tour de Suisse
- 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
- 2nd La Flèche Wallonne
- 4th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
- 2013
- 1st Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
- 1st Stage 4 Paris–Nice
- 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France
- 2014
- 1st Tre Valli Varesine
- Tour de Romandie
- :1st Stages 1, 2 & 4
- 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
- 5th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
- 6th Giro di Lombardia
- 7th Trofeo Muro-Port d'Alcúdia
- 7th La Flèche Wallonne
- 2015
- Tour de Romandie
- :1st Stages 2 & 3
- 2nd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
- 3rd La Flèche Wallonne
- 2016
- Tour de Romandie
- :1st Points classification
- :1st Stage 5
- 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- 7th La Flèche Wallonne
- 2017
- 1st Coppa Agostoni
- 1st Stage 2 Tour of the Basque Country
- 1st Stage 1 Tour de Romandie
- 2nd Vuelta a La Rioja
- 3rd Amstel Gold Race
- 4th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
- 4th Coppa Bernocchi
- 4th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli
- 5th La Flèche Wallonne
- 7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
- 7th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- 10th Tre Valli Varesine
- 2018
- 1st Overall Tour des Fjords
- :1st Points classification
- :1st Stage 2
- 7th Road race, UEC European Road Championships
- 2019
- 4th Time trial, National Road Championships
- 10th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
- 10th Coppa Sabatini
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Classics results timeline
External links