Katusha hope to develop Sergei Chernetskii into a future GC rider and this week the Russian is gaining experience in the leadership role at the Tour de Suisse. After having done a great time trial yesterday, he lost a bit of time in today's mountaintop finish.

The first of two hard climbing stages faced the riders in the 87th Tour de Suisse with today’s uphill finish in Verbier. Team Katusha’s Sergei Chernetckii was part of the action near the front on the early part of the HC climb.

Team director Torsten Schmidt is keeping an eye on young Chernetckii, age 24:

“Sergei received good support from the team. Until 5 km to go he was in a good spot but then he lost some ground and fought until the end. This is a good experience for him. It’s the first time in his career he is doing a World Tour race with a team in support of him.”

Chernetckii was the best-placed rider for Katusha in 25th place at 1.48.

Sunday’s climbing stage in the last day for the 2014 Tour de Suisse. The 157 km stage begins in Martigny and features four climbs, including the HC climb to Saas-Fee, where the race will conclude.