photo credits @WTFK
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) won today’s Queen stage of the Tour de Suisse, after the young Spanish rider attacked on the upper slopes of the Albulapass, followed by a superb 10 kilometer descent that earned him a solo vicorty in La Punt.
Almost a minute after Ayuso had crossed the line, Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) led home a chase group of GC contenders to take second place, six bonus seconds, and reclaim the yellow jersey.
Race leader Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) was part of the chase group on the Albulapass who tried to rein-in Ayuso. But, despite his efforts, he conceded four seconds in the final dash for the line, and with it, the yellow jersey.
Meanwhile, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) claimed the final spot on the podium as Rigoberto Urán (EF), Romain Bardet (DSM), and Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) made up the rest of that group.
Race Highlights
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-visma) was the first rider to attack, eventually drawing out a group of 37 riders.
From there, the group quickly built up a lead of around three minutes until the final climb.
On the lower slopes of the Albulapass, Soudal Quick-Step eventually came to fore to set the pace for Remco Evenepoel.
At the front, Neilson Powless attacked with 22km to go, only to be joined by Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorius), Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Rui Costa (Intermarchse-Circus-Wanty).
In the meantime, Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) and Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) bridged their to the front. But, the leaders attacked again, swiftly distancing the American rider.
Meanwhile, Gall was ensconced in a still sizable peloton with no-one seemingly keen to attack him.
With 16km to go, Ag2R went to the front and began to push the pace, causing Evenpeol to get caught in the split, while Romain Bardet had made his way into yellow jersey group
With 14km to go, as the front group reached the half-way point of the climb, Powless attacked once again, but to no avail.
Back down the mountain, Ayuso attacked the yellow jersey group, quickly opening up a slight gap.
Before long, he was in sight of the front group, with Tiberi launching his own attack off front. But, he was swiftly neutralized, while Powless began to lose contact.
Moments later, Ayuso breezed past Powless, only to pass the remaining breakaway riders as well.
Ayuso later crested the climb with nearly a minute over the yellow jersey and even more on Evenpoel, followed by a fierce descent that saw speeds over 100kph.
With 10 bonus seconds Ayuso was within touching distance of the GC lead, while various chase groups began to coalesce on the descent.
However, Ayuso continued to increases his advantage, clinging to a gap of around a minute under the flame rouge, later holding onto just enough of a lead claim the stage win.
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