Going into the race, Roman Kreuziger was hoping to repeat his 2008 win at the Tour de Suisse but today he saw those hopes being dealt a heavy blow when he could only manage 19th in the time trial. The team will now try to attack in the two remaining mountain stages.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger was in 8th position overall before taking on today’s 24.7 kilometer long and hilly individual time trial forming 7th stage of Tour de Suisse while the big favorite to take the stage win, Tony Martin (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) was also leading the race overall.

The former king of time trials, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) clocked in the fastest time crossing the finish line in Worb and no one were to beat that time for a long while. But then Rui Costa thundered through the course to beat Cancellara by 13 seconds and even later Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) took over the hot seat from Costa. But the biggest favorite made no mistake and Tony Martin extended his overall lead of the race with a smashing performance and his second stage win in the race.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger finished 19th and is now 13th overall:

“It wasn’t the best time trial of his life but Roman is still in contention for a good overall result. Being two minutes away from the lead opens new tactical opportunities and we’ll try to get something out of this new situation. We’re facing two hard mountain stages this weekend and we’ll have to wait for the right moment to play our cards,” said DS Fabrizio Guidi after the stage.