Rui Costa got his Tour de Suisse title defence off to a bad start in the time trial but today he proved that he is still a real winner candidate when he finished 7th in the first uphill finish of the race. The Portuguese raced attentively to avoid the splits in the finale and was on the right side when a 5-second gap opened up in the end.

By winning the race twice in a row, Rui Costa has proved that he is excellently suited to the Tour de Suisse and this year he has lined up at the race with the intention of making history by becoming the first rider to win three consecutive editions. However, he started the race badly as he was off the pace of most of his rivals in the opening time trial.

Today he showed that he is still a danger man when he finished seventh in the uphill sprint on stage 3. Using his teammate Rafael Valls to string things out in the finale, he stayed in a good position to avoid any potential splits.

That proved to be a wise strategy as a small gap saw a lot of contenders lose 5 seconds. Hence, Lampre-Merida left the race with a feeling of an accomplished mission.

"Today our riders did a very good race," sports director Joxean Fernandez Matxin said. "We rode without using too much energy and were always very close to Rui Costa to avoid difficult situations.

"In the early part, Palini did some godd work, then Richeze took over before passing the baton to Loiveira and Serpa. The finale was tricky both because of the elevation profile and the many turns but we weren't caught out due to alertness bu Valls and Catteneo.

"The only negative thing concerned Modolo who crashed twice. He could have become seriously hurt but Sacha is a tough guy and has not reported any problems."