202 kilometers from Stäfa to Serhaus welcome the riders on the second day of racing here in Switzerland. The stage ends with a tough climb up Serfaupass, which is eight kilometers long, before the stage ends with a couple of kilometers that are nearly flat.
According to the bookmakers Schleck Pluchkin Amador
are the riders to watch for the win today.
It’s a beautiful day for cycling in Switzerland. And there’s also no wind to speak about, meaning today should be all about the climbing abilities to the riders.
25 kilometers into the stage and we have the breakaway of the day.
Kratochvila Bookwalter Delage Bauer
are the successful attackers, and they already lead the peloton with two minutes.
Their lead grows to 5’30 as they sprint for the first mountain points on offer in this year’s Tour de Suisse.
Kratochvila
edges Delage Bookwalter
for the six points on offer. A good start you must say, eventhough a maximum of 32 points awaits later.
Back in the peloton it’s Aker-MOT Pearl Adidas Team B&O Vesuvio-Accumalux
doing the work at the front in the early kilometers. They’re 7’20 behind 115 kilometers away from home.
Delage
proves he is the best sprinter in the breakaway, winning the intermediate sprint with 92 kilometers to go. The gap back to the peloton is down to 6’45 as they’re about to begin climbing the first big mountain of the stage.
75 kilometers to go and there’s action back in the peloton! We haven’t even started the real climbing up this first category climb, but Monfort Faiers Kern Van der Velde
have decided to try to surprise the big favourites today! As they attack they’re five minutes behind the breakaway.
The overall favourites are clearly comfortable letting these four riders attack away, as none of their team mates challenge Aker-MOT
for the lead in the peloton. 67 kilometers from the finish, and 7 kilometers from the top of the climb, Monfort Faiers Kern Van der Velde
have gained three minutes back to the peloton! They find themselves chasing 1’45 behind the early escapees.
That went quick! 64 kilometers away from home and we have eight riders up front! They’re a massive 4’15 ahead of the bunch. Could the cause a big surprise here on the first mountain stage in Tour de Suisse?
Towards the end of the climb Van der Velde Kern Faiers Monfort
push hard and gaps the riders in the original breakaway.
Kern
grabbed the 16 mountain points on offer. Their gap back to the peloton is 4’30 58 kilometers from the finishing line.
Kvasina
leads the peloton over the summit, and they’ve actually lost a little bit on the last kilometers of climbing. They’re now 4’45 behind. Only 49 riders are left in the bunch, indicating the pace wasn’t exactly slow on the climb. No big names are missing.
The peloton is done descending 37 kilometers away from home and Kohl
immediately attacks! Quite a surprising move, considering his team already has the best climber of riders up front. Though, the breakaway’s advantage is down to 2’50 as Kohl fires.
The Austrian gets half a minute on the chasing bunch before no other than Pluchkin
decides to give it a go! It’s still 29 kilometers to the finish, which means another 16 flat kilometers!
Just a kilometer later Rujano Brajkovic Amador Denifl
decide to join the fun, making an elite chase group 30 seconds ahead of the peloton and one minute behind the breakaway with 23 kilometers of racing left.
Intxausti
weighs in with 22 kilometers to go, making it seven overall contenders 27 seconds ahead of the peloton! Interesting moves, especially considering there are still nine mostly flat kilometers to race before the riders start to climb!
19 kilometers away from home the breakaway, the late attackers and the latest attackers all come together in one big group. They’re a good 50 seconds in front of the peloton. This is a golden opportunity for them, especially for Kohl Intxausti Rujano
as they all have a strong team mate in the group.
The favourites are going crazy! They clearly don’t want to see Boasson Hagen
in the yellow jersey after today’s tough stage!
Machado
Schleck Vesvuvio Fothen
attacks on a speed bump 18 kilometers away from home.
Though, the only thing all this attacking does is to neutralize other attacks. 14.7 kilometers to go, and Aker-MOT
is at the front of the race, leading a peloton of 49 riders.
Look at this! Race leader Boasson Hagen
decides to go for the six sprint points with 12 kilometers to go, and no one challenges him. Though, that can’t be a smart move if he wants to defend his yellow jersey on the upcoming climb.
As we start climbing with 10 kilometers left Pluchkin Rujano
attack! (Missed a photo to this text.) The Moldovan is the strongest, and starts pushing his own pace, already leading the bunch by 28 seconds.
Another brilliant climber is Machado
The Portuguese just brings the two attackers back, easy as peanuts!
As you would expect, that only leads to more attacks. This time it’s Denifl Intxausti Kohl Costagli Faiers
giving it everything for a stage win.
Though, they’re quickly pulled back. 6.300 meters from the finishing line and it’s finally time for Schleck’s
attack!
Several riders see this as the move to mark, and it’s Kohl
leading the way ahead of Schleck Kiserlovski Amador Denifl Jaramillo Costagli
Schleck
wasn’t going anywhere, and with five kilometers left it’s Costagli Jaramillo Kern Faiers
trying to shake things!
4.400 meters to go and the mountain points are given. Costagli Jaramillo
hold a lead of 12 seconds back to a chasing group of 33 riders, led by Schleck
If you’re looking close, you’ll see race leader Boasson Hagen
who has been able to fight his way back to the group! He lost contact earlier on the climb, but has together with others, like Sanchez
managed to get back on the last kilometers of climbing.
The final four kilometers rises with 2-5.5 percent.
3.600 meters to go and Amador
attacks! It’s a strong attack, and the Costa Rican must be looking for both the stage win and the yellow jersey.
Cattaneo
and no other than the race leader Boasson Hagen
himself try to follow Amador. Though, it looks like they both lack the needed acceleration, and Rodriguez
controls them well, chasing Amador for his captain Machado
1.700 meters to go and Amador
holds an advantage of 36 seconds! It’s still Rodriguez
giving everything for Machado behind. At least he easily controlled the race leader when he tried his luck, but is it good enough to catch Amador?
Under the kite and it’s still a 20 seconds advantage for the Costa Rican. But he’s too tired to open his sprint. That could cost him dearly thinking of his sprinting rivals behind.
Here they come! It’s Schleck Machado Fothen
leading the way as they see Amador coming closer and closer.
Schleck
is the strongest of the riders in the bunch, and as he’s about to catch the Costa Rican, Amador
speeds up and starts sprinting with only 300 meters to the line!
Amador
makes it! He takes a quick look to his left to make sure Schleck
is behind before he starts his celebration! That was a truly deserved win, being rewarded for his aggressive racing.
It’s a big day for UBS-BMC as Frank
comes from absolutely nowhere to deny Machado
third place and the yellow jersey. It means Amador will ride in the yellow jersey on tomorrow’s stage in Tour de Suisse.
Sanchez Kiserlovski
follow in fifth and sixth.
Kohl Pluchkin Monsalve Denifl
round off the top 10 on today’s stage.
Boasson Hagen’s
defence of the yellow jersey almost proved good enough, but at the back of the big group of favourites he must admit Amador
will get to wear it on the coming stage.
