In the first part of the Tour de Suisse, Thibaut Pinot had been reassured about his form. After his fourth place in stage 2, he fought  against the likes of Peter Sagan (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Dani Moreno (Katusha) in the finish yesterday, with Steve Morabito as a key support ride. Third on the line, Pinot scored four bonus seconds and moved up to fifth place overall, 12 seconds behind Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).

This stage was shortened due to a landslide on the road and was not easy, with the ascent of the Gotthardpass and a hilly finale in the Lugano region. Again he FDJ team worked hard to position their leader behind three escapees, Marcato (Wanty Group Gobert), Denifl (IAM) and Samoilau (CCC) who had an advantage of 6 minutes before they were caught

At the bottom of the penultimate climb 15 kilometers from the finish, Pinot and Morabito were very well placed by their teammates and Jeremy Roy just missed hundred meters to crest the summit with the first field of 35 riders. He failed to return on the descent.

In the end, there were several attacks. Steve Morabito was part of the action with Jérôme Coppel and David Lopez who did not want to work. They were caught. Like in stage 2, Thibaut Pinot was attentive, involved in the race and also had better sensations. He jumped onto the right wheels before doing the sprint.

"The goal is for him to finish the Tour of Switzerland with a good feeling," says sports director Yvon Madiot. "We do not even talk about the overall. I can see that he is in the race, just like his teammates. After Sunday's crash Arnaud Démare was not at his best but it makes sense. The main thing is that he is here."

"It was a very short stage, but often it does not mean anything," Pinot told Cyclingpro.net. "The finish seemed like a mini Liege so I had to try to do well. The sprint was pretty special , so I'm glad I positioned myself well. You had to be careful to choose the right wheel. I was behind Sagan and Moreno and with the fact that the finale was quite technical, we all kept our positions and I finished third.

"I was afraid of riders like Thomas who could have used his finisseur skills to gain time. I want to feel compfortable and don't have a lot of pressure. Tomorrow it is the first sprint where it is important not to lose time ahead of Wednesday's queen stage."