Tour de Suisse: Pozzovivo takes emphatic win on La Punt

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Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) rode to victory and into the yellow jersey on stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse, catching lone leader Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) at the top of the Albulapass and then dropping him on the wet descent to the line.

The Italian was third overall at the start of the day with a 25-second deficit to Damiano Caruso, so there was a tense wait after the BMC rider crossed the line in a fragmented GC group 15 seconds back, with Pozzovivo's 10 bonus seconds putting them dead level on time. In the end the organisers put Pozzovivo atop the standings.

Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) was second on the stage, four seconds behind Pozzovivo, with Ion Izaguirre taking third alongside him in a three-man group that also included Pozzovivo's teammate Mathias Frank.

Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) were next across the line, followed shortly by a desperate Caruso, who had responded time and again to the attacks on the final climb.

Also in that fragmented GC group were Mikel Nieve (Team Sky), Marc Soler (Movistar), and Pello Bilbao (Astana). The latter moved into the top 10 overall at the expense of Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky), who attacked on the final climb before falling away.

A crestfallen Woods crossed the line in 10th place. He made the breakaway that went clear after 40 or so kilometres on the San Bernadino climb, one of two big climbs on the 166.7km stage from Locarno to La Punt-Chamues.

The former runner attacked early on the Albulapass, a 15km hors-categorie ascent, and it looked like he was on his way to his first victory as a fully-fledged professional, until the GC riders started attacking each other. It was Pozzovivo's dig, less than four kilometres from the summit, that did for him, and the Italian joined him over the top for the 9.7km run to the line – made up of a plateau and a descent.

As the rain began to lash down, Pozzovivo's experience, perhaps, made the difference as Woods struggled with the lines on the descent. Caruso and the GC group were advancing, but the 34-year-old did enough to hold them off and take his first victory since 2015.

"This is a very important victory, a WorldTour race, and the first big race for me after the Giro, so it's a big satisfaction for the whole squad. I was waiting for a victory like this because I was very strong in the Tour of the Alps, and then had a good Giro," said Pozzovivo.

"The Giro was very hard but I came out of it with a good condition. Today was a very hard day with lots of climbing, but I'm really happy I was able to win."

How it unfolded

As was the case on Wednesday, there was a big fight to get into the breakaway, and the peloton remained as one all the way to the San Bernadino climb.

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