Once the Tour de Suisse got into the mountains, UAE Team Emirates could be stopped by no one. After taking over the yellow jersey on stage 4, Adam Yates was well-looked after for the remainder of the race as his team showed they were a level above their rivals, winning stages 5 to 8. In the end, the biggest threat to the overall title sat next to Yates on the team bus in João Almeida.
All the while, the Tour de Suisse paid tribute to Gino Mäder on the one-year anniversary of the Swiss rider’s tragic death while competing at this race, with one of the highlights being Torstein Træen’s emotional victory for Bahrain-Victorious.
Brief stage-by-stage results:
- (ITT) Yves Lampaert (Soudal-QuickStep)
- Bryan Coquard (Arkéa B&B Hotels)
- Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek)
- Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious)
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates)
- João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates)
- Adam Yates
- (ITT) João Almeida
- A short prologue of just 4.77 kilometres kicked off the WorldTour stage race, taking in a fairly fast and simple route in Vaduz, Lichtenstein. Yves Lampaert (Soudal-QuickStep) took the hot seat in the first hour of racing, edging out a number of GC favourites who’d started early to avoid later showers. The margins were small throughout the results, with second and third within a second of one another, Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) just beating Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers). João Almeida was the best-placed GC rider after briefly holding the hot seat, finishing fourth, a shade under 3 seconds off the podium.
- Stage 2 was one of maybe two opportunities for sprinters, and the key teams had their work cut out in the undulating run-in. A not-insignificant test punctured the last 15 km, the Regensberg’s 6.3% average gradients over almost 3 kilometres proving too much for some of the purer sprinters, and tempting attacks over the summit and on the descent. Alberto Bettiol found a lead for himself near the foot of the descent, but the Italian was reeled in just outside the flamme rouge. Bryan Coquard then won the reduced bunch gallop ahead of Michael Matthews and Arnaud De Lie who was hindered by a mechanical as he launched his sprint.
- The last chance for anyone not identifying as a mountain goat came on stage 3, but it was an aggressive finale, again ruling out most of the fast men. What remained was a thrilling Classics-style race into Rüschlikon, and Marc Hirschi was motivated to snatch the first home win of the race with a late attack. The Swiss national champion was caught 800 metres from the line, though, and Visma-Lease a Bike tried to take control, but when Thibau Nys accelerated off Wilco Kelderman’s wheel, there was nothing anyone could do to overhaul the second-year pro, who outdid Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) in the uphill sprint to the line.
- The first mountain stage finished on the Gotthardpass, both an opportunity for the GC riders to really show off, and a glimmer of hope for a breakaway. A strong eight-rider move had got away early in the stage, but Torstein Træen had struck out alone by the foot of the long double climb to the finish – the Cat.2 Schöllenen giving way to the Cat.1 Gotthard (8.2 km at 6.6%). The Norwegian had almost six minutes’ advantage when the climbing began, but he lost huge chunks of time to the GC battle that started in the last few kilometres. UAE Team Emirates were super strong, even Isaac Del Toro doing a fierce pull having crashed further down the climb, with João Almeida the last man for Adam Yates. The Brit powered up into the snow, but Træen clung on to just 23 seconds to take his first pro win as Yates took over the race lead.
- It was a huge result for the 28-year-old Norwegian rider who’s had a lot of bad luck since stepping up to the WorldTour with Bahrain-Victorious. This, then, was a milestone result for Træen, not just for the confirmation of form and talent, but it’s a result overflowing with meaning two years after he was successfully treated for cancer with surgery, and a year after Gino Mäder died at the Tour de Suisse. Bahrain-Victorious said last week that they hoped to win a stage in his memory, and perhaps also the mountain prize that commemorates their rider at the highest point of the race.
- The UAE domination continued on stage 5 – and wouldn’t let up for the remainder of the race – this time arriving at the finish first with Adam Yates who took victory in the yellow jersey. Finishing in runner-up spot just a handful of seconds after his team leader was Almeida who’d picked off the other GC contenders after working for Yates further down the Cat.1 climb to the finish. In third was Egan Bernal just ahead of 22-year-old Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) and Enric Mas (Movistar), moving the Colombian up to third overall; this was just one of many brilliant stage finishes for Bernal whose comeback is still trending up.
- Stage 6 was meant to be the Queen Stage with passages of the Gotthard and Furka Passes, but even the planned alternative route was deemed too risky, so the peloton faced only 42.5 km, with a first-category ride to finish. Any hope of a breakaway was in vain, and once again, UAE Emirates took control. Yates attacked just outside the 3 km mark, leaving the other contenders scattered in his wake, but it was Almeida who yet again leapfrogged from one to the next until he was back with his teammate, ultimately leaving Yates behind and taking a stage win for himself.
- The Ineos Grenadiers seemed determined to take some of the glory away from the race’s dominant team on the final road stage that kicked off the weekend, but there was no stopping UAE Team Emirates as they continue to throw their weight around in the build-up to the Tour.
- After taking victory the previous day, Almeida – who stood 27 seconds off the lead owned by his teammate – gave a tantalising quote before stage 7: “I think both Adam and I want to win. If one of us wins it’s fine. If I’m second behind Adam I’m happy.” So, though defensive tactics might have made sense, it was not altogether surprising to see Almeida attack the GC group with 3 km to go of the climb up to Villars-sur-Ollon. A response from Riccitello provided Yates a reason to pursue Almeida and look after the yellow jersey, though, and make a move himself with about 1,800 metres remaining. But it wasn’t over yet. In a repeat of the previous two days, Almeida reappeared on Yates’s wheel again, and the pair crossed the line together.
- It all came down to an intriguing final time trial, a real race of truth. The 15.7-kilometre route began with five flat kilometres to the first timing checkpoint, then it was up all the way to the finish line: 10.2 km at an average of 8%. Ouch.
- Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) looked lightning fast to set the provisional best time after a week of ups and downs, then GC outsiders Pidcock, Riccitello and Skjelmose blasted through his time in quick succession, but it was another day for UAE Team Emirates. Yates had said after stage 7 that he expected his teammate to get the better of him in his preferred discipline – “When he’s alone tomorrow in the TT, I think he’s going to fly up here.” – but with so much of the time trial up 10 kilometres of 8% gradients, it was a favourable test for the Briton. While Almeida had the upper hand on the flat, Yates was in his element to the second time check, before Almeida turned on the after burners to the finish. The Portuguese rider took the stage, his second of the week, while Yates sealed the overall title, losing only eight seconds to his team mate in the end.
- Skjelmose rounded out a steady Tour de Suisse with third on the stage, which propelled him onto the overall podium, with Riccitello and Pidcock rounding out the top five on the stage. Bernal, Mas and Felix Gall all came away a little disappointed, each of them slipping a spot in the GC standings, but remaining comfortably in the top 10.
GC top 10
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates)
- João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +0:22
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +3:02
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +3:12
- Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) +3:31
- Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:36
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +5:01
- Oscar Onley (DSM-firmenich PostNL) +5:40
- Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) +6:31
- Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R) +6:35
Quotes of the race
About two days to go, I wasn’t sure if I could do it … I’m still out of breath because it was such a hard climb, but one thing I had in the back of my mind for a while was the 2019 Tirreno-Adriatio where I lost the TT on the last day by one second, and this had lived rent-free in my head for many years, so it’s finally good to win a race and win it with a TT like this.”
Adam Yates said after the stage 8 TT where he finished second to Almeida but sealed the overall win
Stage 4 winner Torstein Træen celebrated his first pro win and his first top-10 finish of the season on the Gotthardpass, also winning the prize dedicated to Gino Mäder at the highest point of the race.
It’s obviously special, it’s for Gino no? On the Gino mountain, rideforgino. It means the world, he was still a colleague and you still miss him. Obviously, in this team, it’s super special and we always want to ride for him, and on a day like this when his mum is also here, it’s super special.”
Træen said after his stage win
Brief analysis:
- It seems there’s no end of bad luck for Visma-Lease a Bike, whose Tour de Suisse co-leader Wilco Kelderman was caught up in a slow-motion crash on the lower slopes of the Gotthardpass on stage 4. The veteran all-rounder and occasional GC hopeful has become a valuable, even crucial mountain domestique since his return to the outfit at which he began his career, though he was not initially listed on this year’s Tour de France squad. That may be about to change, and after the crashes of Steven Kruijswijk and Dylan van Baarle at the Critérium du Dauphiné, it’s likely that the 33-year-old Dutchman was already in the running as the Swiss pre-Tour warm-up got underway. Kelderman wasn’t too badly affected by his crash, able to finish the race with a resilient top-10 finish, but it’s another bruise to the battered squad.
- Set against the results-hoarding UAE Team Emirates, Visma-Lease a Bike will head to the Tour de France relying on their professionalism and recent experience of Tour supremacy, and even their near-silence on the subject of Vingegaard’s recovery post-Itzulia crash – on the off-chance he’s absolutely flying, they would of course leave the world believing their top rider and his support team are under-powered and easily out-gunned by their rivals. It’s a very different approach to what we’ve become used to; the tables have turned.
- Welcome back, Egan Bernal. It’s more than two years since the Colombian’s horror crash, and he’s been undergoing a steady, sometimes imperceptible rise through the ranks since then. The 27-year-old is unlikely to contest the podium of a Grand Tour any time very soon, but he’s determined to race for victory at the Vuelta before the end of his career, completing the Grand Tour trilogy, and at this point, I’m beginning to believe he could very well do it.
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