Tour de Suisse: Sagan claims stage 5 in Cevio

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Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) won stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse in Cevio in emphatic style. The two-time World Champion lit the afterburners as the peloton rounded the final curve and had plenty of time to do a hula-style celebration as he sailed across the line.

Michael Albasini (Orica-Scott) had to settle for second place while Matteo Trentin, after a strong lead-out from his Quick-Step Floors team, came home in third place. Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing) finished safely inside the bunch to keep his position at the top of the general classification.

Quick-Step Floors and Trek-Segafredo battled and supremacy as the bunch entered the final kilometre, but Sagan kept a watchful eye on it all as he sat a few riders back in the bunch. When Team Sunweb’s Nikias Arndt tried to mug the group with 400 metres to go, Sagan was wise to the move and was quick to free himself of the peloton and launch his sprint.

Swinging from right to left, Sagan began chasing him down. Arndt looked nervously over his shoulder, sensing the storming Sagan behind him. In the end, the world champion screamed past Arndt as if he was on fast forward and the German had accidentally hit pause. With 200 metres still to run, Sagan only extended his lead so that he had a clear margin over the following riders.

Albasini did his best to chase back Sagan as Arndt faded but he had no answer to the power of the Bora-Hansgrohe rider.

How it unfolded

The fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse would be a mixed day with the Simplonpass on the menu midway through the afternoon but a flat finish giving an opportunity to some of the sprinters. After the success of Larry Warbasse (Aqua Blue Sport) from the breakaway the day before, there were plenty of riders trying to get up the road following the start in Bex.

With so many riders looking for their 15 minutes of fame in the escape, it proved increasingly difficult for a move to stick. Time and again the breakaway hopefuls were brought back into the peloton, and it wasn’t until after 70 kilometres that something finally went clear.

Arman Kamyshev (Astana), Ben King (Dimension Data), Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Sam Bewley (Orica-Scott), Lars Petter Nordhaug (Aqua Blue Sport) and Jesper Asselman (Roompot) were the lucky six that eventually went up the road. After a ferocious start that saw the peloton riding almost 20 minutes ahead of schedule, the BMC team of race leader Damiano Caruso sat up and allowed the gap to grow out. By the time the leaders hit the major climb of the day, the Simplonpass, they had almost six minutes’ advantage over the pack behind.

After a harmless excursion into a field earlier in the week, Miguel Ángel López (Astana) had a much harder fall on the descent of the Simplonpass. The defending champion immediately left the race and was taken to hospital for further examination. It was a big blow for López, who looked to be coming into form after missing much of the early part of the season.

Race motorbikes have been a talking point in recent years and a group of them almost got caught up in the action as Nordhaug tried to get himself back into the breakaway group and they struggled to get past. Meanwhile, his former companion Kamyshev had been taken back into the clutches of the peloton.

Nordhaug did eventually regain contact with the other four but as the heavens opened upon them and UAE Team Emirates turned up the chase, the Norwegian decided to sit up along with Wallays. King and Asselman opted to prolong the torture for a little while longer and forged on together. Behind them, a concerted effort from BMC Racing, Trek-Segafredo and UAE Team Emirates saw to it that they weren’t going to get too much further.

The catch was eventually made with six kilometres remaining after Lars Boom (Astana) tried and failed to bridge the gap. By this stage, the rain had relented and it was a straightforward battle for the sprint teams.

Bora-Hansgrohe kept relatively quiet in the closing kilometres, allowing their rivals to do most of the grunt work. Philippe Gilbert wound things up for Quick-Step Floors and while he held off the likes of Trek with his efforts, they were not enough to dampen the challenge coming from Sagan. Knowing it was likely his only chance, Arndt tried to go long, but Sagan had his number too and he stormed to yet another win at the Tour de Suisse, the 14th in his career.

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