The long-awaited Queen stage of the 2015 Tour de Suisse - 237km from Untertetzen to the Rettenbachferner in Sölden - was cruel for the Movistar Team, as the Blues were down to six riders after Ion Izagirre had to withdraw. The Basque has not sufficiently recovered from a hard Giro d'Italia, neither physically nor mentally, and decided to put an end to his race and leave responsibility to lead the telephone squad on Igor Antón and Winner Anacona.
While the Basque attacked briefly at the foot of the final climb - a real 'wall', 12km over 10% average and its summit at almost 2.700m above sea level - the Colombian, well protected by an ever-consistent Fran Ventoso, reached the base of the ascent in good position but ended up struggling and dropping back with 7km to go, losing as many minutes in the overall classification as Antón.
Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) is the new leader of the race thanks to his victory on the Austrian glacier, and will try to defend tomorrow his yellow jersey over a flat, 193km route from Wil to Biel.
Raoul LIEBREGTS 49 years | today |
Igor BOEV 35 years | today |
Heinrich BERGER 39 years | today |
Rolando AMARGO 28 years | today |
Kosuke TAKEYAMA 27 years | today |
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