A five-man group broke clear from the start of the 172 kilometre course, which began and finished in the municipality of Cham.

Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen was among the escapees on the hilly stage, but the group were ultimately caught in the closing 30km of racing.

The peloton had just come together when a crash took down several riders, including Australia’s Rohan Dennis.

The BMC Racing rider had won yesterday’s time trial to lead the race, but he would find himself distanced after the incident.

Belgium’s Jan Bakelants, Portugal’s Rui Costa and Damiano Caruso of Italy would launch an attack as the race approached its conclusion.

The trio were eventually caught, leading to a sprint finish among the main group.

Gilbert, the 2012 world champion, claimed victory in a time of 4 hours, 22min and 36sec.

New Zealand’s Patrick Bevin and Anthony Roux of France completed the top three, ending on the same time as the winner.

Switzerland’s Stefan Küng ended in the main group to take over the race lead from his BMC Racing team-mate Dennis, having finished as the runner-up in the time trial yesterday.

Küng holds a 1sec lead over Australia’s Michael Matthews and the Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin, the recently crowned Giro d’Italia winner.

The International Cycling Union WorldTour race will continue tomorrow with a 159km stage from Menziken to Bern.