Tom Dumoulin may mostly be known for his TT skills but today he proved that he can develop into a GC contenders as well when he finished 14th in the first mountaintop finish at the Tour de Suisse, holding onto second overall. The Ducthman now hopes to put in a similarly strong showing in tomorrow's queen stage.

Tom Dumoulin has successfully defended his second place on GC at the Tour de Suisse, taking 14th and limiting his loses atop the finishing climb to Verbier on the penultimate day of racing.

Dumoulin finished 40 seconds down on the mountain finish, conceding just 23 seconds to overall race leader Tony Martin (Omega Pharma – Quickstep). The  stage was won by Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) after a strong solo move on the final climb.

The stage featured a powerful eight-man break but the race always looked like it was going to be decided on the final climb. Once the race came back together it was a race of truth on the last ascent and a well timed move by Chaves saw him take the win. Dumoulin held strong until late on the climb and eventually came across 14th, with Warren Barguil next home for the team in 24th place.

Team Giant-Shimano coach Addy Engels explained a bit more about the plan for the day. “We approached today’s stage with a focus on Tom and Lawson [Craddock] and getting then in a good position for the finishing climb and then seeing how far they could go as for both we were unsure how they would react at this level.

“Lawson was not feeling great and was dropped before the climb but the team did a great job in getting Tom up there and into position and I am really pleased with how he rode at the end. He climbed with the leaders until between three and two kilometres to go before letting go, but he still went full gas to the line and in the end didn’t lose much time.

“It reaffirms the step up that he has taken this season – we have seen it in his time trials but he is showing his talents as a GC contender here on the climbs too now. Tom is still young and has a lot of development left in him and it is a very exciting prospect as to what he is capable of in the future.”

Dumoulin himself added after the finish: “I felt really good on the climb today and am really happy with the end result. We showed today that even on a tough stage like this we can hold our own and together we rode really strongly.

“There’s just one stage left tomorrow now and we will once again give it everything and see how things are looking by the finish.”