Astana's Andreas Kloeden won the Tour of Romandie title after the final stage, a 154.2km ride from Le Bouveret to Lausanne.

Italian Daniele Bennati of Liquigas won a sprint finish for the stage honours ahead of Sweden's Markus Zberg and Kazhakh Maxim Iglinsky.

Kloeden had taken the leader's yellow jersey from the third stage.

He took the title ahead of Czech rider Roman Kreuziger of the Liquigas team, who finished 35sec behind and Italian Marco Pinotti of High Road at 43sec.

FOURTH STAGE

Andreas Kloeden strengthened his Tour of Romandie lead by finishing sixth in the fourth and penultimate stage behind winner Francesco De Bonis of Italy.

There was more good news for German Kloeden when he discovered his Astana team were likely to be competing in the Giro d'Italia which begins on May 10.

Thomas Dekker, the 2007 Romandie winner, was Kloeden's main rival before the mountainous 112-km stage from Sion to Zinal but the Dutchman gave up at the start of the last of Saturday's three climbs.

Kloeden began the day with a five-second advantage over Dekker and now has a 35-second lead over Czech Roman Kreuziger, with Italian Marco Pinotti a further eight seconds adrift in third.

Gerolsteiner rider De Bonis led the stage from start to finish to win by three seconds from Frenchman John Gadret.

Spain's Manuel Beltran was third, a further two seconds behind.

But the talk of the peloton was the news about Astana's possible inclusion in the Giro.

An Astana spokesman said the team would start although race director Angelo Zomegnan said their participation was "50-50", adding an official announcement would be made on Sunday evening.

"It's brilliant news and of course I'd volunteer to take part if it is confirmed," said Kloeden.

"It's a big tour and I'm a big tour rider," added the German, who was runner-up in the Tour de France in 2004 and 2006.

Astana, hit by doping scandals over the past two years, were originally left out of this year's Giro and the Tour de France.

Kloeden is now a big favourite to win the Tour of Romandie as Sunday's 154-km final stage between Le Bouveret and Lausanne appears relatively easy, even though the riders need to negotiate a big hill near the start.

"For sure I made a big step (today) but I've never celebrated before crossing the line," he said.

THIRD STAGE

Astana rider Andreas Kloeden took the overall lead of the Tour of Romandie after winning the third stage, a 18.8km time trial.

The German, a former runner-up at the Tour de France, finished ahead of Dutchman Thomas Dekker, of Rabobank, over the mainly flat course around Sion which included one main climb.

After a rapid descent towards the technical final part of the course Kloeden avoided disaster when he managed to stay on his bike despite clipping a barrier.

He finished in 25min 32secs to take the yellow jersey from Liquigas rider Michael Albasini of Switzerland, who finished in 26:53.

Dekker, a former winner of the Tour of Romandie - which much of the peloton uses as preparation for the May 10-June 1 Giro d'Italia - finished four seconds behind Kloeden and is now second overall.

Astana thus claim their second victory in the race after Maxim Iglinsky's win on the first stage.

The Kazakh-based team includes Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, but the team will miss this year's race due to the organisers' decision not to issue an invite because of their past brushes with doping.

Astana were thrown off last year's Tour after star rider Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping. Contador did not ride with them at the time.

SECOND STAGE

Australian sprint ace Robbie McEwen put a disappointing beginning of the year behind him with his first victory of the season in the 172.1-k second stage of the Tour de Romandie.

McEwen's 104th career win was quite similar to the previous ones. The 35-year-old rider from Brisbane waited for the final stretch to surge away and bemuse his rivals.

Italy's Daniele Bennati, who should be one of his leading opponents in the sprints of the Giro d'Italia later this month, was second ahead of Dane Matti Breschel.

"It's very satisfying because it's the first of the season after a few disappointing months," McEwen said

"I had a bad crash in February, then I was sick and I had to work hard at making it back. The Tour de Romandie was the first race I targeted to be back in top condition.

"After that, I'm going to the Giro and it's good for the morale," added McEwen, winner of 12 Giro stages in the past. Swiss Michael Albasini retained his one-second overall lead over Kazakh Maxim Iglinsky.

It was Labour Day, but McEwen's Silence-Lotto team mates worked very hard to chase behind three riders who had broken clear almost on the gun, France's Remy Di Gregorio, American Ian McKissick and Spain's Jose Luis Arrieta.

In the finale, Di Gregorio was left alone up front but he was caught with eight kilometres to go after spending 160 kms in the lead and there was no denying McEwen his inaugural victory of 2008.

"This morning I told myself I was going to win today and I used my team mates to chase all day and place me in the right position in the final kilometre," he said.

Thursday's 18.8-km individual time trial around Sion should sort the men from the boys and force the favourites to show their real strength.

Last year's winner Thomas Dekker is full of ambition after an impressive showing in the first big climb of the race on Wednesday's first stage.

"I have no pressure but I don't want to let my team mates down. I'm the favourite but I must beware of (Germany's) Andreas Kloeden. He's my leading rival," the Dutchman said.

STAGE ONE

Maxim Iglinskiy gave his Astana team a much-needed lift with victory in the first stage of the Tour of Romandie.

The Kazakh rider took plenty of risks in the winding finale of a hilly and rainy stage to outsprint two local riders, Michael Albasini of Liquigas and Gerolsteiner's Markus Zberg.

All three finished in the same time of four hours, 47 minutes, 28 seconds for the 184.2 km run in the Swiss mountains, with Albasini taking the overall lead.

It was a stage victory to savour for Astana as the Kazakh team have been excluded by Tour de France and Giro d'Italia organisers from all of their races because of the team's past doping record.

"We ride fewer races, so obviously we want to win the few races we're allowed in," said the 27-year-old Iglinskiy.

There was no shortage of motivation as the Astana riders, including leader Andreas Kloeden, rode at the front in the three climbs of the day.

In the last, the first category climb to Saulcy, a group of 40 riders, including most of the favourites, caught the three men who had broken away after 10 km -- Italian Morris Possoni, Spaniard Patxi Vila and Dane Matti Breschel.

The trio had been in the lead for 150km when they were reined in.

After numerous attempts in the finale, a mass sprint eventually proved inevitable and last year's winner Thomas Dekker showed he was in great form by launching it.

However, Iglinskiy was the boldest of the bunch, attacking shortly before a steep turn which nearly sent some of his rivals to the floor.

"I knew the last kilometre was winding so I took my chance," he said.

Third in the prologue, Albasini will take a one-second lead over Iglinsky into Thursday's 172.1 km second stage to Fribourg, where Astana will be expected to launch a fresh assault.

Alain Gallopin, Astana's team chief on the Tour of Romandie, said: "We knew the Tour (de France) selection would not be easy but we did not expect to be kicked out of all (Tour organiser) ASO's races.

"We had to re-motivate the riders and rethink our schedule. But we have had some fine results and our image is good. We work hard."

The now re-structured team are paying the price for past problems.

Last year, Iglinskiy's compatriots Alexander Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin failed dope tests for blood transfusion during and shortly after the Tour de France, bringing the team to near-collapse.

PROLOGUE:

Briton Mark Cavendish used his sprinting prowess to outshine the time trial specialists and win the Tour de Romandie prologue on the banks of Lake Geneva.

The High Road team leader clocked two minutes 07.60 seconds for the 1.9-kilometre course at an average speed of 56.7kph.

"With hardly two kilometres, it's like a sprint, full gas to the line", said the 22-year-old from the Isle of Man, who was crowned Madison world champion on the track in Manchester in March.

Italian Daniele Bennati, another sprint specialist, was second, 0.27 seconds adrift, ahead of his Liquigas Swiss team-mate Michael Albasini, who clocked 2'08"20.

Cavendish's team-mate and compatriot Bradley Wiggins, who finished fifth, set the early pace, starting 13th of the 150 riders, but with the wind strengthening as evening fell, his time of 2:08.48 could not resist the challenge of later riders.

"The wind was very strong on the return part, like a wall. I tried my biggest gear and I just stopped," said Cavendish, winner of 11 road races last season.

"It [the team] is a fine mix of experienced and up-and-coming riders. It's impossible not to win."

But he admitted it would be difficult for him to score another victory on the Swiss roads all week, most stages being too hilly for his skills.

The win came as a consolation of sorts for Team High Road, who learnt they were not accepted in the line-up for the Spanish Vuelta a Espana.

The Tour de Romandie is one of the biggest races to accept the Astana team of Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, but its leader in the race, Germany's Andreas Kloeden, was a disappointing 19th in the prologue.

AFP & / Reuters