Hilly NC in Switzerland and two dominant teams here in this small country.
25/29 riders are from the home teams. Swisscom really could need those NC`s after being relegated from the PT. Fumeaux and Reichenbach lead their two squads. Reigning champ Frank is their joker ans is riding with Fumeaux.
Vontobel having 2 squads led by M. Wyss and Hollenstein.
The remaining 4 have chances as well though. Red Bull with the Swiss star Cancellara, Kenya with Lang and Sauber with Schurter and Chavanne.
Vontobel quickly showing that controlling the race alone is not their goal. Addy is riding for the Hollenstein squad and goes clear early. Surprisingly none of the 4 riders from other teams joins him.
Both Swisscom squads as also the Wyss Vontobel squad are chasing him though. This means Wyss feels strong enough against the bit stronger puncheurs of Swisscom.
Just by the look of the peloton the dominance of the Swiss team is obvious. So much red and also a lot of Vontobel blue. The other 4 riders really with bad chances here.
And Vontobel puts even more pressure on Swisscom as they send Schuler of the Wyss squad into the mid stage attack. With him Sauber`s Schurter, which obviously is not ideal for them neither as he is a top5 puncheur in this field.
Though with 25km to go it`s only the Reichenbach Swisscom squad, that is chasing. 30s to the duo and another 50s for Addy.
Going up the penultimate climb the gap is down to a few seconds. Pure control by Swisscom today.
Over the top it`s 13s for Addy and additional 23s in between the peloton and the chasing duo.
All of them are caught though with 7,5km to go. Now Swisscom needs to finish it.
Frank is the first to attack. Behind him immediately the team leaders: Reichenbach, Wyss as also Frank`s leader Fumeaux.
But it wasn`t strong enough. Hollenstein and Schurter pull them back.
3,2km and next attempt. This time by Marcel Wyss. Reichenbach follows immediately. Fumeaux with a little gap.
Those three did gap the peloton, that is still not giving up though.
Fumeaux making it to the duo in front. But it`s Flamme Rouge and there is no time to relax for a few seconds.
The sprint starts and Wyss proves to be the best allrounder. The Swisscom duo now in danger to lose it.
And indeed Wyss is the new Swiss road champion. He was the strongest today and with next years PCT fight between those two Swiss teams, we should see some nice duels and most likely will be back in one year with yet another exciting Swiss National Race.
Fumeaux and Reichenbach pass the line next to each other with huge disappointment.
The ITT was always one for Cancellara 81 and also with 34 years he is easily the best against the clock. Though Dillier 79 has closed the gap in the recent years while the first Vontobel riders are a bit behind in Schär 76 or Imhof 74.
Schär with a very strong time beating Imhof by 44s already after 10km!
Actually strong enough to stay ahead of Dillier. 7s for the Swisscom rider.
And the surprise gets even bigger as Fabian Cancellara is also behind. Even further than Dillier. 3rd and +15 only.
Half time and Schär continues strong. 1'18 ahead of Imhof, who is not much weaker normally.
Dillier still behind with +13s now.
Is it his final year as Swiss ITT champion? Cancellara dominated those for very long but next year it will be even harder against Dillier in especially. Or Schär as the later is still leading! 28s ahead of Cancellara, who still is 3rd only.
At the 3rd check Schär even passes his team mate Imhof! This must be his best ever TT.
Has Dilier a late kick? No! 21s now!
And also Cancellara can`t improve. He won`t even be 2nd in the end.
He is +55s in the finish. That`s even 28s slower than Dillier, who is disappointed enough already. This was his chance to beat Cancellara and take the Swiss NC and instead he is beaten by Schär, who also takes the 2nd NC to Vontobel.
For Dillier a small heads up as he might be the dominant time trialist in future for Switzerland and as youngest of this trio he might still get a couple of NC`s.
Marcel Wyss
