Time trial specialist Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was involved in a rare battle for a road race win in yesterday's sixth stage but despite some aggressive racing came away empty-handed. He admitted that eventual winner Gregory Rast (Radioshack) had been the strongest in the break and was just happy to be at the pointy end of a road race.

Bert Grabsch is mostly known for his impressive time trial palmares and his amazing work to bring back early escapees in flat races but yesterday he found himself in the very unusual situation of fighting for a win in a road race. Having joined Mathew Hayman, Gregory Rast and Alexandr Kolobnev in the successful break in the sixth stage of the Tour de Suisse, he had a big chance to take his first ever road race win.

With his lack of sprinting abilities, he knew that he had to arrive at the finish in solo fashion and so he raced very aggressively inside the final 4km of the stage. However, Rast and Kolobnev closed down his three moves and instead the Swiss was the smartest as he countered an attack from the German when they passed the flamme rouge.

Grabsch had to settle for 4th but admitted that the strongest rider had won the race.

"After one hour of fighting I entered in the good breakaway," Grabsch said. "We went with four guys and we took immediately a good rhythm. The gap between us and the group was increasing kilometer by kilometer. At 80 kilometers to go we had more than 10 minutes so we understood that it was possible to make it until the end."

"On the final climb nobody really attacked, so I was able to stay in the front," he added. "In the final I was really tired, but I tried to attack twice. I knew that I had no chance against the others at the final sprint so I tried. Rast closed the gap two times. He was really the best one in the breakaway today. But I'm happy with my race. For a guy like me it's always something special to get into a breakaway and go until the end, I'm proud of my day. Tomorrow we will again try to win a stage."

Grabsch will, however, have limited opportunities himself as today is the day of the queen stage and instead the team will support Peter Velits. Starting at 16.55, you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.