Tour de Suisse – Review

The Tour de Suisse ended today with Portuguese rider from Movistar’s Rui Costa raking the overall honours. I will not go through stage by stage, I will pick out some key points and good rides. However, this race a review is more useful insofar as this is another key Tour de France warm up race; and indeed the last major race before the TDF which starts in 2 weeks time. Many riders come in fresh from training, looking to build form. Predicting TdF form from the Tour de Suisse is a dark art, but I believe that a number of conclusions can be drawn. 

Overall it was a good race, with more exciting racing and a better parcours (route) than the Dauphiné. The points, competition was won in impressive fashion by Peter Sagan, who showed his very strong form by taking 4 stage wins out of the total of 9 stages. With this sort of form, his prospects of gaining the Green jersey in the TDF look very good. The Best Swiss Rider Classification was won by Mathias Frank and the Mountains Classification was won by Matteo Montaguti, who adds this jersey to the Mountains jersey he won earlier this year in the Criterium International. 

Key riders for the Tour

·         Frank Schleck – The other Schleck brother put in a strong performance in this race. Seeing as his brother Andy is out of the TDF with a fractured pelvis, F. Schleck will be the leader of the Radioshack- Nissan-Trek team. His climbing is looking very good and he showed a willingness to attack from a long way out, both of which will help him in the TDF. His performance in the long TT was better than expect of F. Schleck. However, he still lost 01:37 in the 34.3km time trial to Kessiakoff (Cancellara was with two seconds of this), if will extrapolate this to the TDF; he could expect to lose a minimum of 4:45 to the likes of Evans/Wiggins. This is a lot of time, and I would be surprised if he could take this sort of time out of those riders in the mountains. He is also the favourite for the King of the Mountains jersey in this year’s TDF.

·         Alejandro Valverde – Although he did not manage to gain a top 10 position Valverde showed that he had good form. The main reason he didn’t get a top 10 position was that he did a lot of work for his teammate Rui Costa, who won the race overall. He a sizeable chunk of time in the time trial, which would suggest that he will struggle to win the TDF, however his strong form indicates at least top 10, if not at least top 5 position.

 

·         Levi Leipheimer – Before his unfortunate collision with a car in Spain in April, resulting in a fractured left fibula, Leipheimer was looking like one of the top 3 favourites to win this years’ TDF, due to his good form. This race has confirmed that he has recovered most of his form. Leipheimer was climbing well. His TT was relatively poor compared to his previous form in this area this year, however there is still time to improve during the next two weeks and the first half of the TDF.

 

·          Robert Gesink – Gesink didn’t show much in the mountain stages, however his TT was very solid, only losing 27 seconds over 34.5 km, and he still has time to improve. His 4^th place overall shows he has good form, it is also likely he was sandbagging and not wanting to expend too much energy before the TDF. With this performance he looks good for the TDF win/.podium. This race also showed the strength of his team Rabobank, with Steven Kruijswijk and Laurens ten Dam doing impressive long turns on the front in the Mountains. Should Gesink falter in the Tour, Steven Kruijswijk has shown in the Tour de Sussie that his form is strong.

·         Tom Danielson – Danielson performed solidly in the Tour de Suisse and was rewarded with a 7^th place overall in the final General Classification. His time trialling was satisfactory and he climbed well. Could repeat his top 10 place in the Tour this year.

                                                                                                                                                     

Key riders who will not be at the Tour

·          Mikel Nieve – Put in a strong performance, especially when you consider that he is still recovering from the Giro, which was only 2-3 weeks ago, where he finished in 10^th . He rode bravely throughout, going on the attack on a number of occasions. His aggression was rewarded with 13^th place and 3^rd place on stage 2.

 

·         Roman Kreuziger – Gained 9^th overall after a difficult Giro, shows strong will and good recovery.

Impressive Rides

·         F.Schleck  – Schleck rode aggressively throughout taking back a good deal of the time he lost to Costa in the TT. He gained 2^nd place on the 2^nd stage and 4^th on the 8^th stage, in the process taking time out of a lot of the other riders, some of whom will be his advertises in the Tour. Most impressive was his long range attack in stage nine from over 40 km out, which, although ultimately fruitless, showed a winning attitude which the Schleck brothers have not often demonstrated in the past.

·         Michael Albasini – Albasini’s stage 8 victory was an impressive endeavour. He spent a long 133 km out in the breakaway. With two well timed attacks on the 2 final climbs at 28 and 8 km to go he shed his breakaway companions and hung on to win the stage by over a minutes, with the full force of the Rabobank team and the race favourites chasing after him. He showed great strength and good tactical ability.  

·         Rui Costa  – Costa’s stage 2 ride won him this race. He showed strong climbing ability by putting in a well timed and decisive move with ~ 2 km to go. He showed good all-round ability with his performance in the rest of the race, with a good TT, strong climbing and strong resolve. He could very well be a GT rider for the future .

·         Fredrik Kessiakoff – Not many riders can say that they have beaten Cancellara in a TT, Kessiakoff can. Very strong performance against the clock, which given his climbing ability could make him a threat in a GT at some point.  

·         Fabian Cancellara – Cancellara has just returned to racing after ~ 2 months out with a quadruple fracture of his collarbone. He comes back and gets second in the Prologue and second in the 34 km TT. This shows the massive talent that this rider holds. He will be remember as one of the best TT riders of all time when he retires.

·         Peter Sagan – What can you say ! 4/9 stage wins, all the designated stages for the sprinters. The finishes were also as diverse as you can get for a sprinter, with out and out sprinting on a flat, wide, straight road to long power sprints in twisty, tight roads. Sagan has shown that he has the speed, power, knowledge and bike handling to perform on any sprinting stage. This race, along with his performance in the Tour of California shows that he is a very strong favourite for the Green Jersey this year.