Simon Špilak wins Tour de Suisse

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Simon Spilak (Katusha) snatched overall victory at the Tour de Suisse after producing an incredible performance in the final stage 38km time trial around Bern.

Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) won the nail-biting stage around the Bern countryside and moved up to third overall. However, Spilak gained enough time to dethrone race leader Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and move past pre-stage favourite Geraint Thomas (Team Sky).

Thomas and Spilak were neck and neck in the virtual standings during the time trial but the Katusha rider found something extra on the final climb up to the finish in the centre of Bern. Dumoulin won the time trial with a time of 48:36, with Spilak 18 seconds slower, one better than local hero Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), who finished third at 19 seconds. Thomas was only fifth fastest, 36 seconds slower than Dumoulin, while Pinot lost close to two minutes.

Thanks to his super fast performance, Spilak jumped passed Thomas and Pinot to win the Tour de Suisse by five seconds. Dumoulin also moved up to finish third overall at 19 seconds. Pinot finished off the final podium and fourth overall at 45 seconds.

"I’m really happy and want to thank my teammates who helped me too much during the race. This is the biggest win of my career so far. I’m really happy," Spilak said before pulling on the winner’s yellow jersey. "The time trial was really hard but I liked it. It was up and down all the way and that helped me. I gave it everything."

It was Spilak’s tenth victory as a professional rider but he seems well suited to short, hilly stage races, especially in Switzerland. He won the 2010 Tour de Romandie and finished second overall in this year’s race. Spilak is expected to be part of the Katusha team for the Tour de France that also includes Alexander Kristoff and Joaquim Rodríguez.

Dumoulin impresses in time trials before the Tour de France

Dumoulin started the testing time trial in fifth place overall but within a minute of overall victory. He impressed in the time trial and is arguably a favourite for the time trials at the Tour de France that begins in the Netherlands in just two weeks time. However, he was a little disappointed not to win the Tour de Suisse.

"It’s great to win but I’ve got mixed feeling because I also thought it’d be possible to win the GC if everything else had gone really well. However, Thomas and Spilak were also really strong. I was a little bit stronger but not strong enough to beat them. But I’m happy with a stage victory," he said.

"t was a hard course. I didn’t really make any big mistakes apart from one or two corners but that didn’t make the difference between a GC win and third. This was the max I could do. I’m happy. My first goal of the Tour de Suisse was to deliver two good time trials and I won both of them, so I succeeded in my goal."

The Tour de Suisse is the last WorldTour race on the calendar before the Tour de France begins in two weeks time. Spilak, Thomas and especially Dumoulin and Pinot are all expected to be in the thick of the action in July.

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