THE SIDELINES : Belgian Wins 1st Leg of Swiss Race

gium’s Eric Vanderaarden overcame a spill and won the first leg of the 11-day, 1,136-mile Tour of Switzerland road cycling race today, and Juerg Bruggmann of Switzerland earned a time bonus and took the overall lead.

Vanderaarden sprinted ahead on the home stretch after a fall midway through the race to finish the 77.6 miles in 3 hours, 33 minutes, 1 seconds. Stephan Joho of Switzerland was runner-up in the same time.

Bruggmann picked up 18 seconds at intermediate points to take the yellow jersey.