Sorry for the late comment, it's been some crazy (RL) days over here...
Now that it's all set in stone - Wow, what a result by Stüssi! We were obviously hoping for something big - but with the pretty tiny TTT gaps, I thought that we'd likely even miss out on a Top 5 again, like last year. So I was hoping that Stüssi would take yellow after S3 - but Meintjes just did his job. S4 then fortunately didn't yield the huge gaps I was dreading, with Stüssi only losing a couple of seconds.
What came most unexpected, though, was that the better TTers actually had a big advantage in the MTT! In my experience, only the mountain stat matters for those - it clearly wasn't the case here. So instead of dropping out of the Top 5, Stüssi actually climbed on the GC podium - where he stayed until the end!
So it's our first yellow jersey in a home race - even worn by a Swiss on day 3 - and a GC podium as the huge icing on the cake! That's team history written for sure - well done!
Some quick thoughts on the final stage: I'm definitely not unhappy that it went to the breakaway, as I'd have been far more disappointed by another awful sprint result by Bol. Top favourite, the team not working all day long, and the sprinter being useless - one point out of 10 RDs so far this month is very disappointing.
But the upside outweighs the lack of good stage results - besides the TTT win, obviously - by far. A GC podium by Stüssi, 15th place by Darbellay, plus a U25 point by TT specialist Bissegger - makes me hopeful for more great things to come in our remaining mountain stage races!
Congrats to lief for the win on the final stage, to Abhi for the GC win - and big thanks to sean for the reports!
