Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) blitzed the closing time trial at the Tour de Suisse to win the stage in Abtwil. His winning time of 32:25 wasn’t enough to take the overall title, however, as Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) held on to finish third on the day, nine seconds down, to win his first WorldTour stage race.
The 22-year-old Dane looked to be out of it at the first checkpoint on the 25.7km course, falling out of virtual yellow with a second’s deficit to Ayuso. He rallied to mount a comeback on the hilly mid-section of the stage to claw back precious seconds and take a big victory.
20-year-old Ayuso ends up in second overall, nine seconds down on Skjelmose, after his second stage win of the week. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) jumped up onto the podium with a time of 32:33 to finish 45 seconds down, as Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) fell from second to eighth with a slow time of 35:51.
“I thought it was possible. I always race to win, and I think even if I had a disadvantage in the skinsuit, I proved that my shape is good and that I’m ready for the Tour. I always believed in this,” Skjelmose said after the stage before paying tribute to Gino Mäder.
“It’s a lot of big emotions. It’s a combination of a lot of sacrifice for me, and of course, Gino is dead, and I think everything combined just made me very emotional. It just needed to come out after the finish line.
“For me, the most important thing was that Gino’s parents and family wanted the race to go on and for us to race as normal. That put my mind at rest.”
Ayuso, meanwhile, said that he had mixed feelings after the stage – winning and losing at the same time, while also thinking of Mäder.
“[My feelings are] a bit mixed. Of course, not because I won the stage; it’s the second TT win this year, so I’m happy that I keep improving in this type of racing style. The primary goal was to win the GC, and I came second, so it’s a bit of a pity, but Mattias was super strong, and we have to just congratulate him.
“Of course, I wanted to get the GC to Gino, but also the stage he will be happy for me. Of course, this goes for him. Racing is a bit more on the side. You don’t feel like celebrating. It’s not what comes to you, but I think everybody here gave their best to Gino. Mattias is for sure thinking of him to give the GC for him, and I’m happy to win to try and honour his memory.”
How it unfolded
The closing stage of the Tour de Suisse would bring with it the conclusion of the GC battle with a challenging 25.7km time trial from St Gallen to Abtwil, including a tough 1.6km 8.2% climb in the middle of the stage. With fine margins at the top of the classification, the day would decide the final podium of a tragedy-hit week of racing in Switzerland following the death of Gino Mäder.
Samuel Watson (Groupama-FDJ) set the early pace with a time of 34:02, though the neo-pro’s time in the hot seat didn’t last too long before Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) stormed through the checkpoints to go 26 seconds quicker with a time of 33:36.
The Dane’s time was edged out in quick succession by Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) at 33:33 and then Jeremy Cabot (TotalEnergies) at 33:31, however. But the Frenchman barely had the time to sit in the hot seat before his time was blown away by Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep), who finished 30 seconds up with a time of 33:01.
Half an hour later, Asgreen’s time was bested as European time trial champion Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) rode a negative split to come back from two seconds down to set a time 13 seconds quicker at 32:48.
Over the next half hour, the Swiss rider would fend off the challenges from Finn-Fisher Black (UAE Team Emirates), a 33:07 at 19 seconds down, as well as Matteo Sobrero (Jayco-AlUla) another two seconds quicker, and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who missed out by just five seconds with a time of 32:53.
Attention then turned to the GC battle, with the top contenders Evenepoel, Ayuso, Gall, and Skjelmose setting off two minutes apart just moments later.
At the first checkpoint, Evenepoel was the quickest of anyone, setting a time of 12 minutes dead to put 55 seconds into Gall and 24 into Skjelmose. Ayuso, meanwhile, was only five seconds down on the Belgian and 19 up on Skjelmose to move into virtual yellow.
The hilly mid-section of the stage saw Evenepoel gain even more time, crossing the second checkpoint 16 seconds up on Bissegger with a time of 26:12. Ayuso was flying, though, and went even quicker – a 26:06 to move into the driving seat.
But when Skjelmose passed through the checkpoint, he had made up time rather than lost more, the Dane crossing the line at 10 seconds down on Ayuso as Gall suffered minutes down.
At the line, Evenepoel duly beat Bissegger by 15 seconds for a very brief stay in the hot seat before Ayuso came through a further eight seconds up to seal the stage win. Skjelmose, meanwhile, completed his defence of the yellow jersey to claw back another second and finish safely in third on the day, nine seconds down on Ayuso, to win the Tour de Suisse title.
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