Morabito seals home win

Morabito and van Goolen had formed part of a six-man breakaway that made their move just 46km after the start at La Chaux-de-Fonds. Together with Alexandre Usov, Maxime Montfort, Ralf Grabsch and Kjell Carlstrom, they established a lead over the field that grew to over 12 minutes.

With 50km remaining, the péloton, led largely by T-Mobile and with Jan Ullrich to the fore, increased the tempo and began to close on the leading group. By the time they reached the start of the first category climb up towards Leukerbad, the gap had been reduced to just four minutes.

Usov and Grabsch could not maintain the pace, and soon fell away, while Carlstrom and Monfort tried in vain to stay on the wheels of Morabito and van Goolen.

Van Goolen attacked first with 600m remaining, but 23 year-old Morabito stayed on his back wheel, before accelerating away and crossing the line first in Leukerbad, just a few minutes from his home town.

"It was incredible, what happened still hasn't sunk in. The fans gave me such fantastic support" exclaimed a delighted Morabito.

"At the start, my aim was to join an attack. Once this happened, I just wanted to stay in front for as long as possible to support my team-mates. It was only at 300 metres from the finish, when I passed Van Goolen that I believed in victory."