Sagan sprints to second stage win

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) gave yet another demonstration of his prodigious talent with a sniper’s victory on stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse. The Slovakian has developed the healthy habit of sniffing out an opportunity and then grabbing it with both hands, and he duly left Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) and Ben Swift (Sky) in his wake in the sprint finish at Schaffhausen.

Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) maintained his overall lead after a day that provoked an unexpected shake-up in the general classification. On a stage seemingly destined for a bunch finish, the apparently innocuous climb of the Siblingerhoehe split the field in the finale, and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) lost 47 seconds and two places overall when he punctured as Leopard Trek pulled a select group clear in the run-in.

The day belonged to Sagan, however, and his victory showcased the kind of physical strength and tactical acumen rarely found in a 21-year-old. While sprinters of the calibre of Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) and André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) were unable to hold the wheels on the climb of the Siblingerhoehe, Sagan had no trouble in following the pace, and he then showed maturity beyond his tender years in holding his nerve until the last possible moment before rattling off a devastating sprint to take his second stage win of the race.

Coming into the final kilometre, Sagan was tucked safely on the rear wheel of his teammate Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale), but he bided his time rather than risk launching his sprint from too far out. When he allowed Ben Swift to open the hostilities with a scorching kick of his own, it briefly looked as though Sagan had fluffed his lines, but the youngster was simply waiting for a gap to develop, and he streaked past Swift’s left-hand shoulder in the final 200 metres.

Matt Goss lost a little ground in coming around Swift on the right-hand side, but in reality, there was very little that Milan-San Remo winner could do against the on-form Sagan, who had over a bike length in hand at the finish. Thor Hushovd’s Garmin-Cervélo squad and Heinrich Haussler in particular contributed richly to eliminating Cavendish and Greipel from contention over the final 20km, but the world champion never got going in the sprint and had to settle for 5th place behind Koldo Fernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

An unexpected sting in the tail

After their travails in the mountains in recent days, the overall contenders could have been forgiven for anticipating a truce on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s decisive time trial, and indeed, the stage followed its set script without hitch for the opening 140km. Shortly after the peloton set off from Tübach under slate-grey skies and grim sheets of rainfall, a four-man break clipped off the front. Luca Paolini (Katusha), Jan Barta (NetApp) and Jaroslaw Marycz (Saxo Bank-SunGard) were the instigators, and they had a surprise companion in the form of Francisco Ventoso (Movistar).

The Spanish fast man must have known something that the other sprinters didn’t, because the stage had been long earmarked as a potential bunch finish, but Ventoso opted to try his luck from distance. The quartet’s advantage climbed to a maximum of 8 minutes after 70km, but as the skies cleared and the roads dried, that gap soon began to fall.

With 40km to go, they still had 4 minutes over the peloton, but when their unity fractured, their lead dwindled accordingly. Shortly after remonstrating with Ventoso for pushing too hard on a short incline, Barta fell off on a corner, and although he made it back up to the break, his contribution was limited thereafter and the break suffered as a result.

As HTC-Highroad and Sky began the chase in earnest, the four in front began to attack one another, and 28km from home, Paolini and Marycz forced their way clear of the bickering Ventoso and Barta. Thanks to the efforts of Martin Velits (HTC-Highroad), however, the break’s lead was down to just 1:20 on the final climb of the Siblingerhoehe.

Mollema loses out

Once Ventoso was brought back by the bunch, his Movistar teammates set up about upping the pace on the 4th category Siblingerhoehe. Quite who they were hoping to set up for stage victory was unclear, but their attack saw a selection of 30 or so riders edge ahead at the front of the bunch, with Cavendish and Greipel caught on the wrong foot.

Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) put in an acceleration of his own over the top and that stretched the gap out still further before Garmin-Cervélo took over on the descent, looking to distance Cavendish.

Up front, Paolini and Marycz were still ploughing their lonely furrow, but they must have known the game was up when an armada of Leopard Trek riders began to lead the chase, for Fränk Schleck’s teammates had received word that Mollema had been left behind with a puncture and was attempting to chase back on alone. Andy Schleck, Jens Voigt, Linus Gerdemann and Maxime Monfort each took lengthy turns to ensure the young Dutchman would drop two places overall before the day’s end.

Paolini and Marycz were swept up 12km from home, and Leopard Trek maintained their hyperactive pace thereafter. By this point, Mollema had desisted in his lone pursuit, and while HTC-Highroad and Omega Pharma-Lotto were still flying the flag behind in support of the allies of circumstance Cavendish and Greipel, they must have realised it was a losing battle when the gap to the front selection reached 45 seconds with 9km to go.

Such was the intensity of the Leopard Trek pace-setting that Andy Schleck simply sat up once his stint was over, while nobody dared attack from the lead group until Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) had a speculative dig 1.5km from the line, but he was snaffled up under the red kite by the hard-working Daniel Oss.

Overall, Damiano Cunego retains a lead of 1:36 over Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank), while Fränk Schleck moves up to third at 1:41. Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) could well prove to be Cunego’s main challenger in the concluding time trial, as he remains within two minutes of the Italian, but the disappointed Mollema bid farewell to his hopes of an upset on the unforgiving run-in to the line.

But few eyes were on the yellow jersey at the finish in Schaffhausen, and instead it was the blue points jersey of Peter Sagan that shone most brightly on a dull Swiss afternoon. For now, there simply seem to be no limits on the potential of the quiet Slovakian with the insatiable appetite for victory.