Tour de Suisse: Sagan wins on chaotic Schaffhausen circuit

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Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) added to his record tally of victories at the Tour de Suisse. The world champion was untouchable as he stormed to his second win of the 2017 race and the 15th of his career on stage 8.

Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates) was the only rider who could get anywhere near him to finish second while Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) took another third place.

“It was a good day and I’m very happy. My team did a great job trying to control the stage and I’m really happy with my second win at the race.” Sagan said after the stage.

Simon Spilak (Katusha) had an untroubled day and maintained his lead at the top of the overall classification.

Sagan and his Bora-Hansgrohe team were given no favours and they had to work hard to keep the peloton together in a frenetic and technical finish to what was a fast stage overall. Multiple riders tried to dispatch of the world champion, including Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb). They could not get away with a brutal pace set by the German team.

Sagan kept his cool and kept his nose out of the wind, keeping the faith in his teammates and saving his legs for the final. Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) led the bunch into the final kilometre and reduced it to little more than 20 riders but, unfortunately for the Belgian team, Sagan held firm.

As soon as Sagan launched his move from fifth in the pack there was little doubt about who would take the stage win. The Slovakian appeared to ease past the peloton in the final 300 metres and pulled out a gap. He dove for the line, but there was no need as he’d all but secured the win by then.

How it happened

The final weekend of the Tour de Suisse began with a short but challenging 100km stage around Schaffhausen. Under sunny skies, the riders set off at a quick pace that would hardly relent before the finish.

With a large offering of points for the mountains classification up for grabs, Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport) and Nick van der Lijke (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) made sure that they were in the day’s move. They were joined by Jaco Venter (Dimension Data) and Jelle Wallays (Lotto-Soudal), who were mere spectators to the battle for the blue jersey.

The peloton kept the four at close quarters, only ever giving them a maximum of two minutes, but it was enough for Hansen and Van der Lijke to duke it out. In the end, it turned out to be no contest as Hansen outkicked Van der Lijke on all of the climbs they contested. In the end, Van der Lijke chose to save himself for a possible attempt at a stage win knowing that Hansen was just too strong for him.

At times it looked like they might just be able to hold onto a slim advantage and get one over on the peloton, but that idea soon disappeared as the GC and sprinters’ teams began a concerted effort to chase. The technical course forced several splits in the bunch and the organisers decided to neutralise the final lap so that the general classification contenders didn’t get caught up in the hectic sprint finale.

There were a number of attacks, but by the penultimate lap, it appeared this stage was only going one way. The four attackers chose not to fight the inevitable and were eventually brought back as they approached the line to begin the final lap.

Yet more moves tried to go clear with Matthews trying to initiate one on several occasions. He took a select group with him but even with that power they were unable to snap the elastic.

Quick-Step Floors brought the peloton through the final kilometres, but Sagan was able to repay the efforts of his team with a commanding sprint victory.

The riders will stay in Schaffhausen for the final stage time trial on Sunday.

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