Mathieu van der Poel hauls back gap on climb to take Tour de Suisse stage victory

LACHEN SWITZERLAND JUNE 07 Mathieu Van Der Poel of Netherlands and Team AlpecinFenix stage winner celebrates at arrival during the 84th Tour de Suisse 2021 Stage 2 a 178km stage from Neuhausen am Rheinfall to Lachen Rain UCIworldtour tds tourdesuisse on June 07 2021 in Lachen Switzerland Photo by Tim de WaeleGetty Images
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) wins stage 2 of Tour de Suisse (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) may have just stepped back onto the road after a stint on the mountain bike but he’s already made it to the top step of the podium, taking victory on stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse after hauling himself back into contention despite being gapped on the final climb.

A little over seven kilometres out from the line and it looked like the rain soaked stage to Lachen may well have been riding away from the Dutch champion after world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) delivered a fierce attack on the 2.4 kilometre climb with an average gradient of nearly nine percent. It was an effort that split the field, with van der Poel initially struggling to respond even though he felt that this was a day where the Classic-like terrain and his form meant he could make a mark.

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