Mark Cavendish sent an emphatic message to his critics by sprinting to victory on stage two of the Tour de Romandie.
The Isle of Man cyclist celebrated only his second stage win this season with a defiant gesture as he crossed the line.
"It's to say I'm back," said Cavendish, who had won eight stages by this time last year and has been troubled by a dental problem and flu.
"Today I proved I have not lost my talent, contrary to what has been said and written."
Cavendish, 24, claimed his first stage victory in six months in the Tour of Catalonia in March, but then pulled out of the race because of illness.
The Manxman had seemed near invincible in sprints last season, but in Wednesday's first stage he finished well behind the main peloton after a series of accelerations wore him out on the hilly course.
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But Thursday's 171.8km stage around largely flat Swiss countryside favoured the sprinters and HTC-Columbia star Cavendish timed his break beautifully.
He took the lead with 200m to go and raced clear of Lampre's Danilo Hondo and Garmin-Transitions' Robbie Hunter in the final stretch.
"Some thought that the team and myself had lost our motivation and our form," said Cavendish.
"I've had a bad start to the season but I knew we could get it back."
The early stages were dominated by Chad Beyer, Mikhail Ignatyev, Denis Van Winden and Alan Perez, the quartet building up a lead of nearly five minutes.
But they were reeled in about 30km from the finish by Peter Sagan and last year's winner Roman Kreuziger, before Cavendish struck late on.
Overall leader Sagan of the Liquigas-Doimo team crossed the line in fifth to maintain his lead over HTC-Columbia's Marco Pinotti.
Team Sky's British rider Ben Swift was eighth following his ninth-place finish on Wednesday.
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