Sergei Chernetskii proved that he has the potential to become a great stage racer in the future when he finished 12th in today's Tour de Suisse time trial. The Russian showed great technical skills on the tricky course and is now in contention for a top 10 finish.

Friday’s stage 7 in the 87th Tour de Suisse brought the second time trial for the 2014 edition of the race - a 24,5 km race against the clock. A strong Sergei Chernetckii showed his admirable bike handling skills on the challenging course and gave the 24-year old Russian rider a twelfth place on the stage for Team Katusha.

“For some days now I was focusing on doing a good TT today," he said. "I am really happy with my result. I had a good feeling on the bike. This looks good but there is still more work to do for the future. I want to be a good TT rider as well as a climber. Tomorrow and Sunday will bring new tests. They are hard stages but I look forward it.”

Team director Uwe Peschel was in the car behind Chernetckii and liked what he saw:

“It was good to see how well he was doing and how good he was in all of the corners. It was a technical course with steep climbs and descents and dangerous corners. To me he’s quite a young rider without so much experience but he did a fantastic ride. He was fast in the corners and the uphills.

"The last few kilometers of the downhill were on a big road and he’s not a heavy guy so that was the only area that gave him some trouble. He fought for every second. He was so strong”.

Last on course was race leader Tony Martin (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) who stormed the course to beat Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Shimano by 22-seconds and Rui Costa by 28-seconds. Martin earned the yellow jersey after the opening time trial in stage one and continues to lead by 28-seconds to Dumoulin on the general classification.

The 24,5 km course was held in the area around Worb. It featured a steady climb with only a few flat sections along the route, as well as technical corners and a stiff headwind near the finish line. An early best time that held up for several hours was posted by Trek’s Fabian Cancellara with a time of 32.18. The last few riders on course kept getting better times, first Rui Costa at 32.04 and then Dumoulin at 31.59. But Martin out-performed everyone, earning the stage win and widening his overall lead to Dumoulin and Costa.

Two days remain in the 2014 Tour de Suisse and both stages take place in the mountains. Saturday’s stage 8 at 219 km is the longest in the race. It begins in Delémont and features an HC climb to the finish in Verbier.