Garmin Sharp's Ramunas Navardauskas won the second stage of the Tour Of Romandie in Switzerland.
The longest stage at 190.3km from Prilly to Granges saw three riders in the main break of the day.
Vacansoleil's Jonny Hoogerland, who took eight points for the first King Of The Mountains climb, BMC's Marcus Burghardt and IAM Cycling's Matthias Brandle had a lead of 2.31 over the peloton which had race leader Chris Froome close to the front with 85kms remaining.
That lead dropped slightly to two minutes with 50kms left and at the 25kms mark, the peloton, which had dropped Mark Cavendish and Nizzolo, caught up with Burghardt.
With seventeen kms to go and the escapers swept up, the race was blown wide apart with a number of attacks.
Valverde who was first to the top of the final climb, Pinot, Robert Kiserlovski and BMC's Steve Morabito, all had digs at the front of the front group.
Euskatel's Mikel Astarloza took the second sprint with 6.5kms left and he was part of a group of four riders who took a short lead before everyone was back together for the final kilometre.
Garmin lead the sprint out and it was Ramunas Navardauskas who won in a time of 4.51.49 beating Gaspearotto and Gianni Meersman
Chris Froome continues to lead the race.