The ninth and final day in Switzerland, and we are back in the capital of Bern for a stage of 142 kilometers. The first 100 or so kilometer are flat, then we climb the category one Col des Mosses, before the final climb to Villars-sur-Ollon. Phinney leads since day two, and has assembled an advantage of 1'40 over Kritskiy, 3'06 over Keizer and 3'12 over Cattaneo as nearest rivals.
Half of the regular stages have been won from the breakaway, so no surprise many riders try to get in today. Poljanski tries first, and is followed by some big names: Machado Brambilla Latour Formolo Rosch
However, this group would get no more than 30 seconds.
Round two is initiated by Buchmann. All riders in the previous attempt except instigator Poljanski are back, together with: Raileanu Owen Vysna Boonratanathanakorn Dunne Sakalou
Repsol chasing with a full team though, they are determined to get a rider in the escape.
Inexplicably, Buchmann and Raileanu drop back to the peloton. They are not the most dangerous names, Rosch is the highest ranked at 8'21, and their teams do not have other, outweighing priorities.
Repsol kept the gap around one minute, but when they realize it won't get any closer than that, Ndayisenga attacks. He makes it to the break, so they have their rider in the break after all. No other rider would attack or drop back, hence we have the final tally of eleven.
Halfway through the stage and the gap is kept at 2'30. Teams leading the peloton are Grieg, Tinkoff and Campari. Bennelong, Aker and Vesuvio helping out occasionally. Farfetch keeping their cards back so far.
An intermediate sprint in Rossinière with 50 kilometer left, no interest in bonus seconds or points. Latour wins ahead of Owen and Boonratanathanakorn. We're about to climb the Col des Mosses, thirteen kilometer long at an average of 4%. The break starts off with a head start of two minutes.
Tinkoff takes over the chase from Campari, using their sprinters Van Heerden and Serebriakov. They reduce the gap to a minute a few kilometer into the climb. The peloton is still together with the exception of Schreurs.
A group of about 60 riders loses contact with the peloton. We spot GC 11th Danacik as most notable victim, together with the white jersey of Geoghegan Hart and his nearest rival Ganna. Third-placed Carthy is surely happy with this development.
Four kilometer to the top and the first group is reduced to eight: Dunne, Ndayisenga and Vysna dropped. A bit later, Sakalou had to let go as well. The peloton slowed down a bit with Foliforov and Sulimov setting a slower pace, the gap to the front now 1'30 and group Danacik returning.
There is no sprint for the mountain points, the seven leaders cross the top with Formolo, Latour and Brambilla as first three. This means Vosekalns has won the mountain classification provided he finishes the stage. Ndayisenga, Sakalou and Vysna at 40 seconds, the peloton at 1'05 with Dunne caught. Kebede has taken over from Tinkoff, but Grieg has three riders behind him. Thirty kilometer to go: fifteen down, fifteen up.
Another sprint passing by without interest, Machado wins in Aigle. The gaps have not changed on the downhill, the chasing trio still at 40 seconds and the peloton just over a minute behind.
8.5 kilometer, the gap is 50 seconds with the chasers finally caught. Fablok leading with Poljanski and Plucinski, Campari with Pichon and Kebede, Tinkoff with Shalunov and Grieg with Nesset. Then the favorites, Phinney foremost and his rivals behind him.
Just like the last mountain finish, Martin opens the attacks. He is seven minutes behind Phinney so once again he is allowed some room. Goos and Haig respond with a counter-attempt, both are at five minutes.
Back at the front, Machado accelerates. Latour and Rosch respond immediately and the trio is gone. Owen has exploded and has already been passed by Martin at 30 seconds. Haig and Goos couldn't get away, and are back in the peloton of about 100 riders now led by Warchol. Ganna is the highest ranked rider to be dropped so far.
Warchol off the front, which leaves Kritskiy as the lead rider of the peloton. Phinney awake right behind him ahead of Haig and Goos, with Carthy, Cattaneo and Quintana also near the front. Owen caught, Martin up next at twenty seconds with the leaders still a minute ahead. Keizer surprisingly far down the group in about thirtieth place, but with seven kilometer to go he has some time to recover.
Formolo returns to leading trio under the five-k banner, with Brambilla at 20 seconds. Another 20 seconds to Martin who has caught Boonratanathanakorn, and 35 more seconds to the peloton. Guerreiro and Vuillermoz bring the pace down so their leaders Keizer and Ioannidis can move forward from their disadvantageous position.
As the gap to Martin goes up to a minute, Keinath attacks as well. Brambilla and Martin are only a few seconds behind the leading quartet, four kilometer to go. Kritskiy back to leading the peloton, but the group is not thinning out very hard.
Martin and Brambilla join and also Keinath made it to the front quite quickly. The German even goes further and attacks again at 3.5 kilometer. Gap to the peloton is up to 1'30, Kristkiy still leading with Phinney still in his wheel.
Martin only a few seconds ahead of Keinath in the GC, so to defend his position he rides back towards him. The former break riders struggle with the pace, Rosch not able to hang on anymore.
Kristkiy with the expected pace increase, but Phinney counters easily as do Carthy and Quintana. Haig and Cattaneo following on the other side of the road. Keizer, Goos and Konig behind.
Under the flag, Martin and Keinath get company again from Formolo and Latour. Machado and Brambilla are too far back to sprint for victory.
Meanwhile, Kristkiy managed to create a decent gap over the peloton together with Phinney, Haig, Quintana and Cattaneo. Then a small gap to Keizer, followed by another gap to Rosch and Carthy with an even larger gap over the peloton, which is also cracking open.
Formolo launching the sprint with Martin and Latour, Keinath has little energy left. But in the background we see the group of favorites approaching rapidly, having already caught and passed Machado and Brambilla. Phinney riding away to give more shine to his race, can he take the victory with less than 500 meter to go for the front?
250, the order from the leaders is clear: Formolo - Martin - Latour, they have stopped sprinting. But Phinney is still going fast and has passed Keinath.
The American passes Latour, and dives in the gap between Formolo and Martin...
And Taylor Phinney wins the final stage in the yellow jersey! Two consecutive stage wins, the general classification, the points classification and part of the best team. He becomes a two-time winner of the Tour de Suisse in style, after 2011.
Formolo perhaps devastated with second place, leading up until 100 meters, but his added bonus is second place in the mountains classification behind Vosekalns, and a minor jump in the GC.
Martin third, but deserves an applause for his aggressive style. He could enter the GC top ten depending on how the gaps behind pan out.
Latour just holds on to fourth place against Kritskiy, who will become second in the general classification. He has done nothing wrong, but Phinney was unbeatable.
Keinath sixth and also a contender for the top ten overall.
Cattaneo and Quintana finish seventh and eighth, still in the same time as Phinney. With Keizer not getting the same time, Cattaneo reovertakes him in the GC and takes the final podium spot. Quintana was 29th heading into today and should move forward, but a top ten will be difficult.
Haig ninth at 25 seconds. He will not lose places, and it depends on Keizer, Brändle and Vangstad how much he gains.
Brambilla completes the top ten ahead of Machado. Keizer finishes twelfth, losing 33 seconds. The Dutchman holds off Haig for fourth, but drops off the podium in favor of Cattaneo.
At 1'08, we have a group with Konig, Preidler, Carthy and Rosch. Konig is passed by Martin and Keinath but should gain some places himself. Carthy might take the young rider classification if Geoghegan Hart loses more than three minutes, but he has been spotted in one of the groups behind.
Kruijswijk in the next group, who should hang on to his mid-tens GC positions.
Goos, Ioannidis and Tvetcov finish at two minutes. Goos remains in the top ten, though dropping behind Martin to ninth, and Ioannidis drops to eleventh behind Keinath. Tvetcov was twelfth, but becomes fourteenth.
Geoghegan Hart and Brändle a few more seconds behind. Geoghegan Hart secures white, with two minutes to spare over Carthy and Ganna third at seven minutes. Brändle loses a place to Haig, but sixth overall is beyond his wildest dreams.
Vangstad and Dyball at 2'45. Vangstad also should be very happy with his top ten, ending up in eighth. Dyball ends up in thirteenth behind Konig.
Danacik losing five minutes after already showing weaknesses on the first climb, and is perhaps the biggest loser of the day as he falls outside the top thirty.
Martin and Keinath indeed enter the top ten definitively, Martin as seventh and Keinath as tenth. Quintana does not get further than seventeenth, with breakaway riders Latour, Rosch and Machado completing the top twenty.
