After Thomas De Gendt had won the first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné and wore the yellow jersey for five days, he decided not to ride the last stage due to a wrist injury. Today Thomas went to the hospital for an examination. As it turns out he has an intersection syndrome or oarsman’s wrist. Thomas has to wear a brace for three weeks, but is able to train. His preparation for the Tour de France is not endangered.
This afternoon the third stage of Tour de Suisse took place. Tim Wellens has finished in a nice fourth place after an uphill sprint. The stage, with finish in Bern, was a relatively flat stage that ended in a bunch sprint, as was expected. Directly after the start, two riders – Lasse Norman Hansen and Elmar Reinders – escaped from the peloton. Their maximum advantage was 8’20”, but they were caught by the peloton with thirteen kilometres to go. Michael Matthews had a perfect lead-out and he was the strongest in the last kilometre, which was going uphill. Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb were only just faster than Tim Wellens and they sprinted to second and third place.
Tim Wellens: “We knew that the final kilometres were tough and it was up to Jürgen Roelandts or me for today. With this kind of finale, it was crucial to have a good position. It’s clear that I am not a sprinter, but I think I did very well. There were some splits in the peloton when it started to go uphill in the penultimate kilometre. In the end, I finish in fourth place, in good company. Yesterday, I had a difficult day because of the heat. Today, there were more clouds, which made it a few degrees cooler. And now up to the next stages!”
