photo credits @ Twitter
excerpts from Tour de Suisse
The Tinkoff-Saxo leader took his second stage win in this year’s Tour de Suisse when he used his good bike-handling skills and fast legs in the technical final in Biel. Thibaut Pinot didn’t have any problems defending his yellow jersey.
On paper, today’s stage was the only stage in the race where the pure sprinters would have a chance to shine. Therefore, the chances of an early breakaway making it all the way today were very slim. It didn’t stop Axel Dumont (Ag2r) and Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) from attacking right from the beginning of the stage, though. Later Matej Mohoric (Cannondale Garmin) and Jérôme Baugnies (Wanty- Groupe Gobert) joined the duo at the front. Mohoric is a former U23 world champion. The Slovenian is also the youngest rider in the race.
Knowing that they couldn’t afford to miss out today, the team of the sprinters made sure that the break didn’t get too far away. Under the pouring rain Etixx Quickstep, Giant-Alpecin, Katusha and FDJ kept the break on a tight leash. The gap never exceeded five minutes.
With 25 km to go, Movistar launched an attack with Fran Ventoso and Adriano Malori. The two riders quickly opened up a gap to the peloton who now had to start chasing a bit earlier than expected. The Movistar duo never managed to join the four-man group and with 3 km left to go, they were back in the peloton again. Tinkoff-Saxo now hit the front with five riders in front of Peter Sagan and just before la flamme rouge, they caught the morning breakaway.
The last kilometer included two difficult corners but it didn’t hamper Sagan’s chances. Quite the contrary. With Daniele Bennati to lead him out in the technical final, Sagan had no problems taking his 11th stage win in Tour de Suisse history. Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal) finished second, while Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was third. The pre-stage favorite, Mark Cavendish (Etixx Quickstep) had to settle for 6th place.
In the general classification, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) still leads in front of Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and Simon Spilak (Katusha). On Friday, Tour de Suisse continues with another undulating stage. With numerous hills on the menu, the GC riders will have to stay alert in order to not lose any time.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 4:34:43 2 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Soudal 3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha 4 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team 5 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo 6 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:02 7 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 8 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 9 Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana Pro Team 10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 11 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 12 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Team Katusha 0:00:07 13 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing 14 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 15 Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha 16 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr 17 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 18 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ.fr 19 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha 20 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
General Classification After Stage 6
1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr 22:16:51 2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:42 3 Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha 0:00:50 4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:55 5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:07 6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:22 7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:32 8 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ.fr 0:02:29 9 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:02:43 10 Sergio Luis Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:02:46 11 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:57 12 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:02:59 13 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica GreenEdge 0:03:12 14 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida 0:03:21 15 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 0:03:22 16 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:49 17 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:04:27 18 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:04:33 19 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:04:52 20 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team Sky 0:05:35
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