Rast wins from break in Meilen

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Gregory Rast (RadioShack-Leopard) won the sixth stage of the Tour de Suisse, bringing in another Swiss victory. He was one of four members of an escape group which had built up an enormous lead. Second place went to Mathew Hayman (Sky), and third to Alexandre Kolobnev (Katusha), with no honours place left for Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

The quartet had gotten away 30km into the stage and built up a lead of over 14 minutes at times.

Rast jumped under the 1km marker, and was able to get away, after Grabsch had tried a number of times to do so. His jump was enough that the others didn't bother to seriously follow. Kolobnev and Hayman fought for the seocnd place, a few seconds later, while Grabsch just rolled in.

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“It is a big victory for me,” Rast said after the stage. “I have ridden the Tour de Suisse 10 years, this is near my home and so it is very big for me.”

The peloton had taken it easy on the day, and rolled across the finish line 10:43 down, with Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) dueling for the honour of winning the field sprint.

There were no changes at the top of the GC, as Mathias Frank (BMC) successfully defended his lead over Roman Kreuziger (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Rui Costa (Movistar).

How it happened

The race started out with a crash in the first three kilometers, and one of its victims was Heinrich Haussler (IAM), who dropped out later in the stage. The day looked to be made for an escape group, and many tried to form that group.

It took 30 kilometers before a group was successful. Mathew Hayman (Sky), Alexander Kolobnev (Katusha), Gregory Rast (RadioShack-Leopard) and Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) were the lucky ones, and not only did the peloton let them go, it let go a long way.

The gap grew and grew, reaching 12 minutes with 100 kilometres to go, climbing to 14 minutes shortly after the first climb. The peloton could afford to let them go, as Rast was the best-ranked of the group, more than 25 minutes down.

Once the gap started growing so early so fast, it became fairly obvious that the peloton was willing to let this group do as it wanted.

The breakaway riders hung together the whole way, not competing for the two mountain rankings nor the two intermediate sprints. With 4km to go, though, former time trial world champion Grabsch was the first to give it a try, opening the cat-and-mouse games.The other three knew better than to let the powerful German get away, and thwarted his repeated efforts.

Kolobnev and Hayman were the better sprinters, and so Rast took his chance as he crossed under the flamme rouge. He quickly built up enough of a lead that his victory was assured.