photo credits @ WTFK
The longest stage of this year’s Tour de Suisse was on the agenda today, covering over 200 kilometres, with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) beating Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in the final sprint to reduce his deficit on the overall leader to 33 seconds
It was a tough stage from Neuhausen am Rheinfall to Emmetten, covering 3414 metres in altitude. Cyclists suffered in the heat, but Felix Gall (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) still had something in the tank on the final climb three kilometres before the finish. It proved not to be quite enough to take the stage, however. The Austrian was caught by the favourites for the overall victory.
The man in the yellow jersey, Vauquelin, made his move just 500 meters before the finish line. However, hot favorite Almeida latched onto Vauquelin’s rear wheel and timed his sprint perfectly to take his second stage win of the Tour. Thanks to the bonus seconds, he made up some valuable ground on the leader, moving to second place overall.
The final time trial tomorrow sets the stage for a duel between Vauquelin and Almeida. But, Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) can not be discounted in the battle for overall victory either, at 41 seconds behind. The final stage tomorrow is a 10-kilometer mountain time trial from Beckenried up to Stockhütte.
The best Swiss rider in today’s stage was Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) in 29th place, 7:16 minutes behind the winner. In the General Classification, he improves by 12 places to 46th place. Only one Swiss rider is placed higher – Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) in 42nd place.
From a Swiss perspective, all eyes will be on the time trial specialists Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) tomorrow, although the climb will be a big ask for these titans up against climbing specialists.
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