Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) took a solo victory ahead of teammate and race leader Adam Yates in stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse today, after the Portuguese rider pulled away from Yates close to the summit finish of the 42.5-kilometer stage that was shortened due to weather.
Yates had opened up a series of attacks two-thirds of the way up the climb of Blatten, distancing Almeida, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Egan Bernal(Ineos Grenadiers).
However, a determined Almeida then clawed his way past the Dane and Colombian as they tried to react, bridging across to Yates and ultimately dropping him for the stage win
“We were both really strong, and it was quite good,” Almeida, who has strengthened his second place overall and close in on Yates to 27 seconds, said afterward.
“Adam attacked quite far from the finish, and I was on Skjelmose wheel so it was perfect for me. In the end, I could catch him [Yates] without bringing the other riders across. So I’m really happy with this victory.”
Race Highlights
After several attempts to open up a breakaway, a small group containing Frank van den Broek (dsm-Firmenich PostNL) Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Alexis Renard (Cofidis) and Anders Foldager (Jayco AlUla) finally escaped the peloton.
Renard did not last long in the group, while the trio went on to establish an advantage of around a minute.
In the meantime, UAE Team Emirates led the peloton, ensuring that Van den Broek, Bissegger and Foldager were kept on a short leash.
Foldager was the first to fold, leaving Renard and Bissegger. The latter attacked to ensure he won the sprint for a Tissot watch – something he confirmed later – before Van den Broek became the last rider up the road.
However, he was soon swallowed up by the UAE-led peloton, with Isaac del Toro putting on the pace before his leader Yates attacked with 3.2km to go.
There was never a decisive gap, however, with a small collection of favorites, including João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) chasing.
As Yates went under the flamme rouge, Almeida attacked from the chasing group, caught Yates, and then went past him in the final 300m to take the victory.
Everyone lost time on Yates, with the most notable being Enric Mas (Movistar) and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), who both lost 47 seconds.
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