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Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) took the final Tour de Suisse victory after passing leaders Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the Stage 8 time trial in Vaduz, won by Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl). .
Two seconds behind Higuita earlier in the day, Thomas was heavily favored to take the yellow jersey away from the Colombian in the final 25.6km test. So Thomas drove the second best time of the day, only three seconds behind Evenepoel.
Higuita had effectively lost the yellow jersey in the opening kilometers but he limited his losses well in 11th place on the stage and secured second overall, 1:12 behind Thomas and four seconds ahead of Jakob Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech).
Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) overcame a bike change deep into the final kilometers to secure fourth place overall, while Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) capped a career-best climb this week by moving up two places finished fifth overall.
Küng, the European time trial champion, obviously had plans for the stage win here as well, but had to settle for 10 seconds ahead of third place ahead of Evenepoel, who lined up his performance well on the back-and-forth course.
Evenepoel was just under two seconds down on Küng at half-time, but coped better with the headwind at the back of the track to take the stage win and give a different direction to a race that saw his challenge in the general classification end earlier than expected .
“It was a very difficult week for me with some ups and downs,” said Evenepoel. “I’m just really proud that I was finally able to win a WorldTour time trial because I came close twice. Finishing first in front of two great champions is an honor for me and another step in my career.”
Thomas was even quicker than Evenepoel in the last part of the route, although he just missed the stage win. Regardless, his focus was on the big picture.
Seven years ago, Thomas started in a much similar position as second overall in the last time trial of the Tour de Suisse and was expecting the yellow jersey. While Thomas kept part of that bargain by beating Thibaut Pinot in that final time trial, he was himself overtaken by the surprising Simon Spilak.
There would be no late-night excitement on this occasion, however, as Thomas, riding what appeared to be a new Pinarello time trial bike, quickly put the overall title out of Higuita and Fuglsang’s reach.
The 36-year-old started this race in the employ of Adam Yates and Daniel Martínez but moved into the lead after the Englishman retired with COVID-19. Thomas put in a solid performance in the two toughest mountain stages before winning the race in the final time trial around the Liechtenstein capital.
“I was second in 2015. I was second there when I went into the TT, but Spilak passed me and I lost that by about five seconds, so it’s super nice to win here,” said Thomas. “I’ve always wanted to do that, especially after this narrow defeat.”
For his part, Higuita knew from the start that his chances of defending the yellow jersey were slim, but he put in a spirited performance nonetheless, finishing 11th on the stage, 1:17 behind Evenepoel.
“It was a very tough time trial and I knew it was going to be very difficult to win against Thomas,” said Higuita. “I just drove as fast as I could. I knew it would be difficult to defend the jersey but I think it was still a good race for me and the whole team.”
How it evolved
The COVID-19 cluster, which forced Higuita’s yellow jersey teammate Aleksandr Vlasov out of the race, also affected the final day of the Tour de Suisse, with Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) among the non-starters after he tested positive for the coronavirus third time.
Four teams – Alpecin-Fenix, Bahrain Victorious, Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates – dropped out en masse and there were just 77 starters in Sunday’s final time trial. The Tour de Suisse lost another rider before the finish when Ilan Van Wilder (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) fell out of the race on a roundabout.
The first pacemakers were first Chad Haga (DSM) and then Dylan van Baarle (Ineos), before Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) made his impressive mark with an average speed of 54.021 km/h.
Daniel Martínez’s solid fourth place put him eighth overall and indicated his form was moving in the right direction ahead of the Tour. Bob Jungels, fifth on the stage and sixth overall, will be even more reassured by his most notable result since joining AG2R Citroën ahead of the 2021 season.
Elsewhere, Powless capped a good week with 8th place, 59 seconds behind Evenepoel, while Fuglsang just shy of Higuita in the standings. “It was a tough TDS and the heat didn’t make it any easier,” said Fulgsang. “I think I can only be happy. I attacked on several stages and I was one of the only ones who did. I tried to make the race tough, I tried to make the difference but it wasn’t enough.”
The stage ended up being a close three-way battle between Evenepoel, Thomas and Küng, from which the Belgian emerged victorious. The overall title, on the other hand, was never really in question.
“Obviously we lost our leader at Yates, which was unfortunate,” Thomas said. “It was super satisfying to collect ourselves and do what we did.”
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