An attacking ride by Warren Barguil was rewarded with a third place on the penultimate stage of the Tour de Suisse. Alexey Lutsenko got away in the finale and took the stage victory.

Stage 8 in the Tour de Suisse counted 152.5km and 4 registered climbs. The course in the area of Bern went up and down constantly. 19 riders formed a large breakaway group, for Team Giant-Alpecin Barguil was there. With 20km to go, the attacks started and the group was decimated.

Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team) and Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) got away and went for victory. Lutsenko won the stage from a sprint-a-deux. In the final kilometer, Barguil escaped from the chasing group and took third - an excellent results for him. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) is still in the lead after today’s stage.

After passing the line, Barguil  said: “It was not my intention to join the break today but I am happy with my third place. I was in the position to jump and followed the rider in front of me.

“In the finale I responded to some attacks. Just before Bakelants and Lutsenko went I already closed a gap and it was for the others to respond to that one. In the beginning I thought that we would close it but that didn’t happen unfortunately.

“The nice thing is that Tom takes a bit of time for his GC and I hope he can win tomorrow’s time trial with a large difference so that he also wins the overall.”

Dumoulin said: “I am satisfied about today and my current shape. Three kilometer from the finish I decided to attack, 5 riders joined me but there was a lack of cooperation. Eventually, we took 3 seconds but more important is that the feeling ahead of tomorrow’s time trial is really good.”