It was yet another wet day at the Tour de Suisse – not that the team noticed however. Starting the day on a high after Peter Sagan’s twelfth stage win put the UCI World Champion into the race’s record books, the team pushed a hard pace to pull in the day’s breakaway, before watching as the Tinkoff leader launched a late attack to bridge to the remaining breakaway riders, taking the sprint in another masterful finish in Rheinfelden. Peter took the stage win and the race leader’s jersey to the delight of team owner, Oleg Tinkov, who followed the race in the Sport Director’s car.
After spending two days in Baar for the opening time trial and the first road stage, the Tour de Suisse made its way north over the 192.6km third stage to Rheinfelden. After two days of rain, the peloton spent a third day in the wet, with showers making the roads wet and soaking the riders. While the temperatures weren’t low, a third day of rain would undoubtedly be taking its toll on a peloton that was hoping for better weather,
While the day’s categorised climbs were to be found in the latter half of the stage, with the third category Sonnenberg and Schöneberg ridden twice in the finishing circuit after two challenging climbs at the 105km and 122km mark, the preceding 100km was by no means flat. The opening section saw an up and down route before a slight downhill before the first categorised climb, the second category Hauenstein, with its 690m summit. The climbs weren’t the big mountains the country is famed for, but they were big enough to make racing over them tiring, their cumulative impact being felt in the legs. Getting over the climbs was one thing, being able to contest the flat finish was another.
Today’s break was made up of eight riders, who managed to brave the difficult conditions and extend their advantage over the peloton to three minutes with an ease that belied the wet weather. The pace was fast but the peloton seemed happy to let the break stay in front for the time being, but as expected, as the town of Rheinfelden appeared on the horizon, the gap became smaller and smaller.
In spite of the group of eight’s best efforts, the pace was just too high for them, and as the peloton came nearer, the break began to disintegrate having struggled to sustain the gap during the day. This didn’t stop the remaining riders from trying to salvage something for their efforts, and pushed on, trying hard to stop the chasers from catching them. With 20km remaining, an attack came from the bunch, first bridging to the remaining breakaway riders, before pushing on ahead to join the break leader, who was pushing ahead up the road.
From the finish, Peter was disappointed by the peloton’s reluctance to join Tinkoff in the chase. “It was tough when we were working so hard. Cycling has changed – it doesn’t respect the group as much. We were out on front, working with Lotto, but all the riders weren’t working. I was asking where the respect was. We were going to kill ourselves riding so hard with 50km to go. I thought it would be easier for everyone if we worked, but I’m angry that my team was working hard on the front, but no-one seemed to respect that.”
Sport Director, Patxi Vila, was expecting the break to be caught at first, before the attack came from the bunch. “There was a good-sized break, so we worked together with Lotto to get the situation under control. We were actually really close to getting back with them, but that was when Albasini went out and then we had the duo on the front to chase again.”
Having taken the stage win in commanding fashion on stage 2, the flat finish meant Tinkoff’s leader, Peter Sagan, had another chance to push for a stage win. With his teammates upping the pace and helping the peloton to reduce the gap, the UCI World Champion’s team soon had the break in their sights. Only two riders remained ahead, the prospect of a stage win urging them on.
On the final climb of the day and with 11.5km to go, Peter attacked, powering over the climb, making his endeavour look effortless, to go it alone ahead of the chasing peloton and join the remaining two breakaway riders on the front. From there, Peter attacked again from 5km out, taking a slim advantage at the front, but with the chase group splintering, there was every chance Peter’s group of three would be able to hold them off until the end. With the fifteen second gap falling, with any other riders in the break, it would be unlikely that they would be able to stay out until the finish, but Peter had other plans, working with the other two to drag out the advantage until the flamme rouge passed overhead.
The speed increasing, Peter’s companion in the breakaway began his sprint and was looking to distance him as they rounded the last corner, but the Tinkoff leader hadn’t even begun his sprint – and when he did it was immediately clear who was going to take the stage. Crossing the line, Peter took his thirteenth Tour de Suisse win and propelled himself into the race leader’s jersey
Vila could see that the break had the potential to stay out until the end, so urged Peter to go for it on the final climb. “I spoke to Peter and said he’d have to go or Albasini would take the win. It was his kind of stage and it was unlikely if he was in front any longer that the bunch would be able to pull him back in. It was a fantastic move to bridge to the two guys – and then he attacked again, came back and held them off before until the end and took it in the sprint.”
Looking back on the day’s efforts, while Peter made it look easy, he was clear that it was a hard-fought race. “The race was very hard. I caught the escape on the descent, on the flat, and it was pretty hard to keep up. When its raining it’s much easier to be alone out the front – to make the break stick – and the decisions I made were based on me feeling good On the front the guys did some work with me and it was ok in the lead up to the finish. It was a good sprint – at 300m out I stayed on his wheel and then passed him on the line. The riders in the breakaway wanted to work with me today – it’s not always easy to get them to work with me but we all wanted the win. It was just lucky I still had the legs to go for the sprint in the last hundred metres.”
It was lucky that after working so hard, Peter still had the legs to contest the sprint, Vila explained. “In the final sprint I think Albasini tried to surprise Peter but didn’t manage it – he took maybe 2-3 metres, and if Peter didn’t have the legs he’d have made it, but he came back and took it.”
With Peter taking his 13th stage win at the Tour de Suisse, Vila was thrilled with how the team had pulled together to help Peter take the win. “It was a great day today. We knew that today was perhaps the best chance we’d have for another stage win, so we came out, were focused on the race and planned on doing a good job. Yesterday we didn’t work as hard, but today we did and the whole team deserved the win. It’s been a fantastic couple of days – we came with a plan to take one stage – but to have taken two is even better. Now we have the responsibility of defending the jersey. Peter wont be a favourite to keep it until Sunday with the big mountains still to come, but it will be good to have the jersey.”
Peter was surprised to have taken the race lead today, after focussing on the stage win during the day. It wasn’t in my mind that I could take the yellow. It was wet and hard, and from the last climb it was all descent and I thought if I went in the break it could be ok for the sprint – maybe I could recover and then go for the sprint, but I wasn’t expecting to take the yellow jersey. I think I prefer the Rainbow Jersey, but its good to be in the yellow jersey and leading the race. I’ll do my best to hold it tomorrow, maybe for two days, but I won’t be holding it until the end.”
Tomorrow the race comes to its flattest stage – the calm before the storm of the mountain stages. While a flat profile awaits, it’s not without its challenges, particularly when considering the team has to defend Peter’s leader’s jersey. The 193km stage will take riders from today’s finish in Rheinfelden to the Champagne region. A short climb early in the day is the toughest riders will have to face before a flat 130km approach to the last hill of the day – a third category climb riders will negotiate less than 10km before the finish.
Vila was going to celebrate with the team before committing to a strategy for tomorrow. “It’s an easier stage tomorrow. It comes after some tough stages – they might not have looked it on the profile, but the guys said they were hard days. Tomorrow it’s the flattest stage, which makes things easier, but we still have to work and protect the jersey. We’ll enjoy it tonight but we’re ready to fight tomorrow.”
Stage Result
1. Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff 04:31:17
2. Michael Albasini (SWI) Orica-GreenEdge +00:00:00
3. Silvan Dillier (SWI) BMC Racing Team +00:00:00
4. Maximiliano Richeze (ARG) Etixx – Quick-Step +00:00:03
5. Jurgen Roelandts (BEL) Lotto Soudal +00:00:00
28. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:03
57. Oscar Gatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:01:23
58. Jay McCarthy (AUS) Tinkoff +00:02:23
91. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:05:07
92. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:05:07
134. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:07:01
136. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:07:01
GC After Stage 3
1. Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff 09:14:13
2. Jurgen Roelandts (BEL) Lotto Soudal +00:00:03
3. Silvan Dillier (SWI) BMC Racing Team +00:00:03
4. Jon Izaguirre (SPA) Movistar Team +00:00:13
5. Tim Wellens (BEL) Lotto Soudal +00:00:14
11. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:21
53. Oscar Gatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:02:10
59. Jay McCarthy (AUS) Tinkoff +00:02:48
99. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:05:42
120. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:07:24
128. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:07:37
134. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:09:36
