In the finale of today's hilly stage of the Tour de Suisse, Mathias Frank made a surprise attack but failed to get clear and finished with the peloton. The plan by his IAM team was to put race leader Tony Martin under pressure.
The Tour of Switzerland stage 6 took a scenic route through the Jura region of the country, and ended well for Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) who won the sprint into Delémont. IAM Cycling and Sky had set a torrid pace over the final couple of climbs, and though the peloton had more or less regrouped by the finale, many of the strongest sprinters were missing. Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) held steady and defended his yellow jersey on the eve of the time trial that will likely suit him.
IAM Cycling, nevertheless, tried to break the race open on the sixth day of their national tour. Jonathan Fumeaux got the ball rolling, first by joining the breakaway, but had to drop back to the main peloton due to an untimely mechanical problem. Luckily, the break was swept up long before the finish, and Fumeaux was not bothered by his bad luck.
“It was a complicated and difficult stage. I grabbed the right break to go with, but I had a small problem with a mechanical. My team car wasn’t able to get to me in time, and quickly I found myself 20 seconds off the back of the break. So I decided to sit up and wait for the group. It was actually a blessing in disguise because then I was able to do some really good work for Mathias Frank, along with Marcel Wyss, on the final climbs.”
Kjell Carlström, directeur sportif along with Marcello Albasini, said he was satisfied with his riders.
“We wanted to put some pressure on Tony Martin, and so we took up the work that team Sky had been doing on the last climb. Unfortunately, it was a 3rd category climb and just wasn’t long enough for Mathias Frank really to be able to make a difference. But we still have more opportunities on Saturday and Sunday. And in any case, the team played the day perfectly.”
12.05 - 21.05: Tour d'Algérie |
22.05: GP de la Ville d'Annaba |
20.05 - 24.05: Cycling Tour of Albania |
24.05: GP de la Ville d'Alger |
23.05 - 25.05: Tour of Estonia |
25.05: GP Herning |
25.05: ZLM Omloop der Kempen |
25.05: Ladies Tour of Estonia |
25.05: Marcel Kint Classic |
25.05: Due Giorni Marchigiana |
Jorge QUISPE 38 years | today |
Kenneth BULTYNCK 35 years | today |
Mariusz OLESEK 37 years | today |
Eric Le GUEN 57 years | today |
Stijn VANDEVYVERE 28 years | today |
© CyclingQuotes.com