Johann Tschopp (IAM) succinctly summed up his performance in the queen stage of the 77th Tour of Switzerland, won by Rui Costa (Movistar): “Tried, but couldn’t.”  Between Meilen and La Punt, the IAM Cycling climber, who is 18th overall at 1’28”, put in one of the stronger attacks on the early slopes of the Albulapass. 

“We had planned to be in the mix at the front on the final climb. The breakaway was being reeled in, and I wanted to anticipate any explosive attacks, so I went early. Unfortunately, I was alone and none of the breakaway riders I caught wanted to join me and help. To make matters worse, there was a strong headwind on the long sections. It cost me a lot of energy, so when I was caught by the overall leaders, I no longer had the strength to accelerate with the best when they attacked. I still managed to limit the damages, thanks in large part to the efforts made by Sébastien Reichenbach, who found the strength to come back up to us and helped pull. I’d rather take my chances like this and lose than sit on wheels to finish 3rd, 4th or 5th. It is then amazing when an attack actually clicks.” 

With little fanfare, Reichenbach, the 24-year-old neo-pro from the Valais region reviewed the difficult day the riders faced. “The breakaway took off without us, which was not a good thing. So we took our responsibilities. Three of our riders (Elmiger, Wyss and Löfkvist) took their positions at the head of the pack to keep the pace high, especially on the climb up to Davos. Then Johann decided to launch his attack early on the final climb. The wind made it impossible for him to keep his advantage. Personally, I was dropped about 5km from the summit, but luckily caught up with Johann for the final run in to the finish. It was a good thing that we joined forces; it made it possible still to finish well.” Marcel Wyss also proved his courage by finishing the difficult stage, in spite of suffering still from two painful falls this week that have inflicted wounds and bruises on both sides of his body.