Tour de Suisse – Stage 7 Zernez – Sölden 160.8 km
Sölden, June 16th – Another stunning performance of Ion Izagirre, who finished 2nd atop the hardest climb of the whole race, just 22” behind the solo winner and new leader of the general classification Simon Spilak.
The Tiefenbach Glacier of Sölden (Austria) was the summit finish of Stage 7, the highest point of of this edition of the Tour de Suisse, at 2.780 m. Team BAHRAIN MERIDA leader Izagirre was one of the favourites for the stage win, seen he does always well at high altitude and yesterday showed that he was in good shape. For sure the key of the stage was the final climb to Sölden (14.3 km at 10.3%), but even today a group of riders went in the breakaway, including our Tsgabu Grmay.
The fight among the strongest climbers began in the early slopes of the climb. Team BAHRAIN MERIDA worked very well to support their captain, who was able to stay in the small front group. After the attack of Spilak, Izagirre managed the chasing very well, dropping down his rivals and overtaking Dombrowski. From the 1.7 km long tunnel in the very last section, Ion appeared in second position. With less the one km to go, then it was impossible to catch Spilak in the downhill towards the finish line, where he came 2nd.
“Today was another hard day” comments Izagirre “My team made a very good job. We put Tsgabu in the breakaway and in the peloton the other guys worked very well for me to keep a good position at the beginning of the climb with Gaspa and Cink. At the end I finished 2nd. Again near to victory. I feel better day by day and it’s important ahead of the Tour de France. I hope next days to do a good job as in the last time-trial”.
Satisfied the SD Harald Morscher, who comes from Austria, so he knows well the difficult of today’s finish “It was a key stage here at the Tour de Suisse. So we’re proud that we were immediately in the breakaway with Tsgabu, because it was what we expected and that we were able to bring Ion save at the beginning of the climb. Then the rest of the team, also Gaspa and Ondrej, worked for Ion. He did a very very good finish in the end. His results means that he is in shape for the upcoming races especially for the Tour de France. We can look for next stages to do something special”.
Thanks to today’s result, Izagirre climbs up the overall standing, where he is 8th (+3’51”)
