After his excellent time trial, expectations were high for Rui Costa in today's first mountaintop finish of the Tour de Suisse but the world champion struggled a lot and could barely keep up with race leader Tony Martin. He admits that he was in a lot of pain, probably because of the heat or yesterday's efforts, and he hopes to feel a lot better in tomorrow's final stage to secure his spot on the podium.

In yesterday's time trial, Rui Costa again positioned himself as a potential overall winner of the Tour de Suisse when he did the time trial of his life to move into third overall. Today he was expected to gain time on race leader Tony Martin in the first mountaintop finish of the race but things didn't go according to plan for the world champion.

Costa was clearly in a lot of pain on the final climb and had to dig very deep just to keep up with the group of yellow jersey Martin. The Portuguese admits that he suffered a lot and now expects the German to win overall.

"I suffered," he wrote on his website. "This penultimate stage made me suffer a lot. I don't know if it was because of the heat or because of my efforts in the time trial but the truth is that I had no power and it cost me a lost just to stay in Tony Martin's group. It was amazing how he handled such a hard climb. Everything suffesrs that he will defend his lead until the end.

"Today was definitely not my day and my feelings were not the best. My heart rate was very high and I felt a lack of power. I managed to finish with the leader and keep the time gap of 1.05 and maintain third overall.

"Kreuziger and Mollema are very strong in the high mountains. Today you could see how easily they gained 14 seconds on us. Both are very close to the podium and with a tough stage tomorrow, they could very  well take the top positions in the GC.

"Second-placed Dumoulin lost a few seconds compared to our group and I am now 14 seconds behind the Gian rider. But nothing is decided yet.

"I want thank all my team who were always by my side in the latter stages, especially Rafa Valls who helped me a lot on the final climb.

"Tomorrow a lot can happen since the stage is in the high mountains and finishes on an HC climb. I just hope to be better than today and to fight for the podium."

"Today's stage had a tough final climb," sports director Joxean Fernandez Matxin said. "There was a big selection but they could manage themselves well and there were big gaps. Rui could count on a great Valls and gained a few second on Dumoulin.

"Tomorrow it will be a short, decisive stage, 156 km but with so many climbs. Two of the first and second categories and one of the HC category and they will provide a very hard end to the race. Rui Costa is up against some strog rivals who are riding well but he is happy with his performance until now and hope to continue like this until the end."