Fortune showed José Joaquín Rojas its two faces at the end of stage three in the Tour de Suisse, again over lumpy roads in its 193km journey from Flims to a final circuit in Schwarzenbach, including several ascents and the Cat-3 rated climb of Kirchberg. With 500m to go, after initial support from Ventoso and Malori and following good position work in the closing stages, the Cieza-born rider crashed on his left-hand side after touching another rider's wheel, which prevented him from contesting a final bunch kick won by Michael Matthews (OGE).

Fortunately, and despite a blow to his hip, Rojas was mainly unscathed in the incident and should take tomorrow's start in the Queen stage of the Helvetic race: no less than 237 kilometers finishing atop the Rettenbachferner (HC), a grueling climb of 12.1km at 10.7% average, with its summit almost 2,700 meters above sea level. Winner Anacona will start the day as 12th overall - 24" behind Tom Dumoulin (TGA).

Ion Izagirre finished the stage with a time loss of 23.12.

"It may be fatigue from the Giro," sports director Jose Luis Laguia told Biciciclismo. "The first day went well and he actually did a good prologue. Now it does not look good and he is rather demoralized. It was really not a good day.

"At the end of the Giro he was tired. He rested for about ten days with the question whether he was able to recover or not and he seems not to have recovered very well. Also, these days have been fast, the routes have been complicated . And if you're not really at you best, it is harder.

"In principle Ion will start tomorrow, to see if the situation will change. It is a key day. We have Anacona who is still in the mix and is looking forward to the stage."