photo credits @ WTFK
Thibau Nys (Lild-Trek) claimed stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse today, after the Belgian rider won the sprint in an uphill finish in Rüschlikon, delivering a well-timed surge on the rise to the line, holding off Stevie Williams (Israel Premier Tech) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) to seize the day’s honors.
The onslaught of the Cat. 3 climbs of the Aegst am Albis and the Albipass took its toll on the peloton, with numerous sprinters getting jettisoned out the back as the gradients began to kick.
EF Education-EasyPost and Visma-Lease a Bike were prominent in setting the tempo on the climbs, with Brandon Rivera (Ineos) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R) commencing their first of two attacks on the Albipass.
In the meantime, Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) covered an attack from Paret-Peintre, bringing the French rider to heel as he led a reduced peloton over the top of the Albipass with roughly 10km to go.
Tom Pidcock (Ineos) later forced the pace along the descent, briefly stretching out the bunch before things came back together.
Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) was the next to animate things, as the Swiss rider executed a stinging attack on the final climb with a little over 3km remaining, subsequently opening up a modest advantage of round six seconds while heading into the final kilometer.
However, Hirschi was caught on the run-up to the finish, with Decathlon’s Paul Lapeira, Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Nys vying for position.
But, it was Nys who emerged victorious, edging out Williams and Bettiol in the finale.
As a result, Bettiol took over the the race lead with a six-second lead over Ethan Hayter (Ineos), Kelderman and Williams, with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) fifth overall at nine seconds. Adam Yates gained three seconds on the other GC contenders to move up to 8th overall.
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