Tom Dumoulin climbed to 10th on the queen stage of the Tour de Suisse, 1’37” behind winner Thibaut Pinot, who also took the overall lead after today. He moved to 7th in the GC, Warren Barguil wa 15th.

Two Hors Category climbs, 237.3km and 4,112 meters of elevation gain; that are the numbers of this year’s queen stage at the Tour de Suisse.

The fifth stage went from Unterterzen to Sölden, as eight early escapees searched for the attack. On the slopes of the final climb of the day, the Rettenbachferner, with an average gradient of 10.1%, Dumoulin was dropped from the GC group to climb in his own rhythm.

With 2km to go, the last escapees were caught and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) attacked. At the top, Dumoulin was 0th and lost 1’37” on stage winner Pinot. The Frenchman also takes the lead in the general classification, as Dumoulin moved to 7th overall. Barguil rode a strong climb and finished 15th.

After the stage Dumoulin said: “I am happy with today’s result, it went very well. I considered the ascent of the Rettenbachferner as a time trial and I rode up at my pace. Halfway up the climb I let the GC group fo , but later on I picked them up one by one.

“Beforehand, I was hoping to lose a maximum of 1’30”, so my target is more or less accomplished. I still believe in my GC chances, but I can’t promise to regain the lead in the closing time trial, but it’s still possible.”

Coach Rudi Kemna added: “The plan was that both Warren and Tom rode their own race on the final climb, as it was too steep to have advantage of each other. Both guys did a great job and we will see to what extent Tom can regain his position at Sunday’s time trial.“