Eddy Lembo, of the Division II Oktos squad, survived a long breakaway at the Tour of Switzerland Wednesday to steal a win in a stage that was expected to be a natural for sprinters.

The 21-year-old Lembo finished more than a minute ahead of the field at the end of the day’s 172 kilometer stage from Lucerne to Schaffhausen. The win gave the young French rider the overall lead, bumping Coast’s Alex Zülle, winner of Tuesday's prologue, out of the top spot.

Lembo covered the course in 4:18:36, finishing 1:08 ahead of the field. Phonak’s Sven Teutenberg, won the field sprint, while many of the day’s favorites – including Telekom’s Erik Zabel and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) – finished in the peloton.

Lembo now holds a 49-second advantage over Zülle in the overall standings, with the bulk of the peloton about one minute behind the leader.

The day began when Franck Pencole (La Française des Jeux) broke away at the 36 km mark. Lembo managed to bridge the gap and joined Pencole at 82 km. The two built up a lead that eventually grew to more than six munutes, before Lembo finally decided to go away on his own.

"I felt that I was stronger than Pencole on the climbs, that's why I made a break for it on the final climb of the day with 20km still to go," Lombo said.

Lombo's win is all the more surprising as he spent only one year as an amatuer cyclist before signing his first professional contract at the age of 19.

It remains to be seen if he has enough experience to keep a hold on the leader’s jersey after Thursday's second stage, a 191 km ride between Schaffhausen and Domat-Ems.

Copyright AFP2002