Jon Izaguirre wins Tour de Suisse time trial

Jon Izaguirre (Movistar) scorched around the sinuous Davos circuit to claim victory on the penultimate stage of the Tour de Suisse, while Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) moved into the yellow jersey of race leader after placing second.

Overnight leader Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) struggled to find his rhythm on the course and lost almost a minute over the 16.8 kilometres, dropping to fourth overall, though he remains resolutely in contention for final overall victory

Indeed, the margins remain tight atop the leaderboard ahead of Sunday’s concluding mountain stage, which starts and finishes in Davos, with just 18 seconds separating the top four overall. Andrew Talansky (Cannondale) lies in second place, just 8 seconds behind Lopez, while Izaguirre is third at 16 seconds and Barguil just a further two seconds back in fourth.

Izaguirre was Saturday’s stand-out performer as he produced a remarkable display in Davos to clock the quickest time, dashing long-time leader Fabian Cancellara’s hopes of a (second) valedictory stage win in his final Tour de Suisse appearance.

The Basque was 15 seconds down on Cancellara at the first intermediate time check after 6.3 kilometres, but he simply took flight on the principal climb, the drag to Clavadel. He reached the summit ten seconds ahead of Cancellara, for a turnaround of some 25 seconds in the space of 6 kilometres.

After touching speeds of 110kph on the fast drop to the finish, Izaguirre more than held his own on the run-in, almost doubling his advantage to hit the line some 19 seconds up on Cancellara to claim the stage win.

“I’m really very happy because it was difficult. I had some problems with my chain but not a very big problem,” Izaguirre said. “This morning, I saw the circuit and I really liked it. I tried to make the difference in the climb. I tried to win and I’m very happy.”

No sooner had Izaguirre settled into the hot seat than a fresh challenger emerged in the shape of Lopez, who crested the summit of the climb just 9 seconds down. Although the Colombian youngster conceded more time to Izaguirre on the drop to the finish, he did enough to take second on the stage, 18 seconds down.

Nicknamed Superman, the 22-year-old Lopez already shone as a neo-professional when he placed 7th overall at last year’s Tour de Suisse, and to that end, it was rather surprising that the host broadcaster chose not to assign a cameraman to follow his effort. No matter, all eyes will be his yellow jersey tomorrow, as Lopez seeks to become the first Colombian winner of the Tour de Suisse.

Talansky

On Friday evening, Barguil had named Andrew Talansky as the biggest threat to his overall lead, and while he was overshadowed by Izaguirre and Lopez’s startling displays, he quietly lived up to his billing by placing fifth on the stage, 23 seconds down.

That was enough to move Talansky up to second place overall, just 8 seconds down on Lopez. A paradigm of consistency all week, the American will enter Sunday’s final stage with a degree of confidence: after all, he snatched victory on the final day of the 2014 Dauphiné from a far less propitious position.

It was a rather more trying afternoon for Barguil, who had already conceded 16 seconds to Talansky in the first 6 kilometres and – unlike Izaguirre and Lopez – he didn’t fare much better once the road began to climb midway through the time trial.

At first glance, his 57-second time loss on the day seemed calamitous, but the pugnacious Breton is likely to go on the offensive once again on Sunday, where the tough Albula and Flüela passes are shoehorned into the 117-kilometre stage.

Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling) performed solidly on Saturday’s stage to lie 5th overall, 52 seconds off the pace, but Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Geraint Thomas (Sky) and Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) were unable to claw their way back into contention for anything more than a place of honour.

Kelderman (4th at 21 seconds) is 6th overall, 1:21 off the yellow jersey, while van Garderen (10th on the stage) is now in 7th on GC, a further 5 seconds back. Thomas, meanwhile, placed 9th on the stage to lie 8th overall, 1:30 of the pace. "I obviously wanted to do better,” Thomas said. “My diet was maybe a bit too extreme coming in so maybe I was lacking a bit reserves-wise when I came here."

Three-time winner Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and defending champion Simon Spilak (Katusha) each produced low-key time trials and are a distant 9th and 10th overall, respectively, ahead of Sunday’s final stage.

At this juncture, the battle for overall victory seems to have been reduced to a four-way tussle between Lopez, Talansky, Izaguirre and Barguil, but a lot can happen in the space of 117 kilometres on terrain like this.

“Right now, I think I am on the podium by a few seconds,” Izaguirre said, and smiled: “Tomorrow is going to be a war, no?”

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