Yesterday John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) crashed in the neutral zone and failed to come away with a result in the final sprint. Today his team was unsure whether he would be up for the bunch kick but the German bounced back with a strong third place.

John Degenkolb has bounced back well from a heavy fall at the start of yesterday’s stage to take third place in the finishing bunch sprint on the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse.

Degenkolb was well positioned after a good lead-out by his Team Giant-Shimano teammates and was importantly positioned ahead of a nasty crash near the front of the peloton in the final 400m.

The stage was won by Sacha Moldolo (Lampre – Merida) with a well timed sprint at the end of what was a technical and hectic final few kilometres. Tom Dumoulin was safely positioned in the bunch after helping with the pace setting of the lead-out in the closing stages and as a result he holds his second place overall.

The stage was another steady one much like yesterday for the majority of the day until the day’s breakaway of three riders was reeled in in the final 15km. From here in the pace was wound up by the different lead-outs in the run up to the finish.

Team Giant-Shimano left it quite late but surged through in the final five kilometres with Degenkolb safely positioned at the back of the line, with the team looking to make amends for a mix up in yesterday’s finish.

They got Degenkolb through to the front and Koen De Kort led out of the final right hand corner with Degenkolb just a few wheels back, but crucially a few positions ahead of a high-speed crash out of the turn. From here in Degenkolb opened up his sprint but couldn’t catch the leading two riders, and he eventually crossed the line in third.

Team Giant-Shimano coach Addy Engels said after the stage: “I’m really pleased with how the guys stayed together into the final kilometre and improved on yesterday’s race. It was pretty hectic once again but the guys managed to get John up the front and into a good position.

“You have to learn from mistakes like yesterday and today they did just that, communicating better and being more positioned as a team. Some of the younger riders here are still learning their way in the lead-outs but seeing them set it up well today was pleasing.

“During the stage we weren’t too sure if John would be able to sprint as the end as he was a bit stiff after his crash yesterday and because of this we did not pull on the front. I was glad to see him up front at the end and sprinting and it will be good for his head to be back in the mix again.”