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.

Reuters