While the weather forecast didn’t deliver on its promises – with a second day of rain despite a forecast of sunny conditions – Peter Sagan did what he can be relied on to do at every race. The UCI World Champion injected pace, power and excitement into the second day of the Tour de Suisse, taking the win in a textbook sprint effort in Baar. With his twelfth stage win at the Tour, Peter dominates the race’s record books with the most stage wins at the event.
On the Tour de Suisse’s second day, the race remained in Baar for a testing 46.9km circuit ridden four times. The 187.6km route essentially repeated a single cluster of climbs to create a tough, undulating course. While the final run to the finish was flat, would the sprinters have the legs to contest it after such a gruelling day? This was likely to be more of a day for the all-rounders then – the riders who could get over the climbs and still push hard at the finish to take the win.
After racing the opening time trial in wet conditions, the weather forecast at the start of the stage was predicted to be better. This wasn’t the case however, where it was raining on the riders at the start. While the rain was to hold off for the second half of the race, riders were confronted with ret roads and standing water as the race went on.
This didn’t do anything to dampen the spirits of the peloton however, and it was racing from the drop of the flag. 15km into the day, a group of four went on the attack, and in 12km their advantage had stretched to an intimidating five minutes. While the gap wasn’t to extend more than this, it was enough to ensure the escapees had a comfortable advantage as they covered the day’s climbs.
As the day went on, the breakaway’s lead dropped steadily. While their initial advantage had served them well, it couldn’t stop the relentless surge of the peloton. With the race leader’s team pushing the pace, Tinkoff, led by Peter Sagan, were able to expend less effort pulling the break in, and with it all back together with 35km to go, it was likely to come down to the expected bunch sprint.
While there were a number of last minute attacks, the peloton wasn’t going to allow another break go so close to the finish, and with 10km to go, the Tinkoff riders made their first big effort at the front of the race, controlling the pace and working to ensure Peter was kept safe in the frenetic lead in to the finish. With the roads drying out after the day’s earlier torrential showers, teams were confidently upping the pace, with Peter working with his teammates as well as surfing the wheels of the other sprint trains.
There only being a few opportunities for sprinters in this harder edition of the Tour de Suisse, Peter had an idea of how the race was going to develop. “From the start of the race we had an idea how it would go – all the races are pretty similar – we have a breakaway and the GC leader’s team has to pull – everyone knew we’d be going for a sprint because the hardest climb was far from the finish. For the sprinters we only have a few chances to take the stages here, so while we knew we wanted to sprint, it was a little hard mentally because it was raining all day.”
Sport Director, Patxi Vila, saw that everything came together perfectly as the stage neared its end. “The guys worked well in the last kilometres – Trek worked hard to protect the leader’s jersey so it was good to have them controlling the race, meaning we didn’t have to work too hard during the day. The weather wasn’t great but the whole team was focused on helping Peter, and they did a great job delivering him to the sprint.”
As the finish line approached, Peter chose his moment perfectly, tucked in a few riders back, he swung off the wheel of the man in front and charged towards the line. There was never any doubt as to who was going to take the stage as the UCI World Champion outclassed the other sprinters, crossing the line with his arms outstretched to celebrate the win.
From the finish, Peter was understandably pleased with the outcome, but gave some insight into the amount of effort it took to get to the line first. “It was dangerous because we had some crashes throughout the day. In the last 20km it was important for us to be at the front, then there was another breakaway for the last intermediate sprint, but everyone knew we’d be going for the final sprint. Everyone wanted to be at the front. I took a good wheel and my teammates got me in a good position, and I did my sprint.”
Taking the win today was a great start for the team, explained Vila. “It was a good day. We knew it was one of the best chances we had, so we tried to focus just on today, taking each stage day by day based on how things are going, and push hard and get the results. We’re relaxed and came here to try and win stages – our main goal was to win just the one, so getting it on the second day was great. We don’t have the strongest team for the lead-outs, so made use of the other teams who had good lead out trains, which was done perfectly. It was an amazing sprint by Peter, which is great for morale – it’s a continuation of a good year for Peter and the team.”
With a hard race ahead and some stages that don’t necessarily suit the sprinters and all-rounders, Peter was going to ride as well as he could in the race. “If I’m not riding to win, I’m not riding. It’s what I do and it has to be fun. There was a lot of stress in the group that I didn’t like, and it can be a bit boring riding so far to contest just a few final kilometres. Even though it’s a tough year this year, I’m hoping to see it through to the end – although maybe in the grupetto on the harder stages! It’s better to race than to be at home training!”
The UCI World Champion’s win today makes him the record holder for the most stage wins at the race. “As the only rider to have twelve victories, it’s nice! It wasn’t my objective when I first started racing here to set out to do that, but year by year I’ve taken victories, so it’s a good feeling.”
Stage 3 is another tough day, but another that could end in a sprint. The 192,6km sees riders take in six categorised climbs – the first of which is a hard second category ascent of the Hauenstein, cresting at 105km, which marks the start of the toughest part of the day’s riding. While the first half of the stage is undulating, the second half sees four categorised climbs clustered together on a final circuit before the finish in Rheinfelden. A sprint finish may await riders – if they can clear the day’s climbs still able to contest the finish.
Of the stage tomorrow, Vila was confident – especially after today’s strong showing. “There are four climbs before the finish but we’ll see how it goes. The way Peter is climbing at the moment he may be able to hold the pace on the final climbs, so we think he’ll be able to go for the win – and with the high morale off today’s win, I’m sure the team will help before the finish.”
Stage Result
1 Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff 04:35:19
2 Maximiliano Richeze (ARG) Etixx – Quick-Step +00:00:00
3 Michael Matthews (AUS) Orica-GreenEdge +00:00:00
4 Magnus Cort Nielsen (DEN) Orica-GreenEdge +00:00:00
5 Jurgen Roelandts (BEL) Lotto Soudal +00:00:00
16. Jay McCarthy (AUS) Tinkoff +00:00:03
41. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:03
44. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:03
49. Oscar Gatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:03
85. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:00:03
129. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:33
154. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:01:47
GC After Stage 2
1. Jurgen Roelandts (BEL) Lotto Soudal 04:42:56
2. Fabian Cancellara (SWI) Trek-Segafredo +00:00:01
3. Luke Durbridge (AUS) Orica-GreenEdge +00:00:06
4. Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:10
5. Martin Elmiger (SWI) IAM Cycling +00:00:10
21. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:18
31. Jay McCarthy (AUS) Tinkoff +00:00:25
53. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:35
59. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:00:36
94. Oscar Gatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:47
140. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:02:17
151. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:02:35
