Tour de Suisse: Nairo Quintana wins stage 7

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Nairo Quintana (Movistar) showed he is on form for the rapidly-approaching Tour de France with a long solo attack and stage victory on the mountain finish to Arosa at the Tour de Suisse.

Richie Porte (BMC Racing) finished 22 seconds down on the Colombian after an intelligent ride on the long climb and so kept his race leader's yellow jersey but only by 17 seconds as Quintana had gone close to taking the race lead.

Porte can be happy there are no more mountain finishes in this year's Tour de Suisse. The riders face a rolling 123km stage around Bellinzona on Saturday that will see the sprinters return to the fore, while Porte will be hoping to gain time on Quintana during Sunday's decisive 34km time trial.

Quintana has flown under the radar at the Tour de Suisse as he polished his form after a long spell of training at home in Colombia. However, he threw caution to the wind at the foot of the 27km climb to Arosa, clearly keen to test Porte and test his own form.

Porte and others managed to catch Quintana after a first attack but then the Colombian went again, with no one was able to hold his wheel. He powered up the steep first section and quickly caught and past the break of the day, including the American Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First-Drapac).

Porte got some vital help from Tejay van Garderen and then from Greg Van Avermaet - who had been in the break of the day, on the easier middle section of the climb. But Quintana refused to give in, surging away again from the remains of the break.

Van Avermaet helped bring the gap down to 30 seconds and then Porte began his own chase on the steep final five kilometres. He closed the gap to 10 seconds but then seemed to struggle and was joined by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), who finished second on the stage, 22 seconds behind Quintana.

Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) finished fifth on the stage at 38 seconds and is now third overall at 52 seconds.

"Today was a big test to see how I am and it went well. It's important to know that I'm in good shape ahead of the big objective that's ahead. That puts me and my team at ease," Quintana said, confirming that his form and his moral are high after such a strong display.

A mountain showdown

The 170km stage from Eschenbach to Arosa was a day of three parts, with a rolling first part launching the break of the day before a long flat valley roads and then the 27km climb to Arosa.

The break went clear very quickly with riders targeting the stage victory and other there to support their team leader.

The 27 in the attack were Jose Gonçalves (Katusha-Alpecin), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Michael Albasini (Mitchelton-Scott), Simon Geschke, Michael Matthews (Sunweb), Silvan Dillier, Cyril Gautier, François Bidard (AG2R La Mondiale), Oscar Gatto, Tanel Kangert (Astana), Gorka Izagirre, Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida), Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Victor De La Parte (Movistar), Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors), Igor Anton (Dimension Data), Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First-Drapac), Enrico Battaglin, Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Sebastian Henao, Ian Stannard (Team Sky), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Stefan Denifl, Mark Christian, Eddie Dunbar (Aqua Blue Sport), Lillian Calmejane, Romain Sicard, Rein Taaramae (Direct Energie).

Kangert was the best-placed rider on GC in the break at 1:59 and so the BMC rode tempo to control him.

Mark Christian endured a frustrating day on Thursday but bounced back to take maximum points on the early category 3 climb and so virtually seal victory in the climber’s competition.

The break lead by 3:30 with 80km remaining and it marked the point when Movistar activated their plan. The Spanish team began to help BMC with the chase and the gap was soon down to 2:00. Victor de la Parte had already been planted in the break.

When the climb began with 27km to go, Quintana quickly put his cards on the table on a stretch of smooth cobbles. Porte and few others soon caught him but he went again and harder, blowing the peloton apart behind him.

Porte has Kruijswijk and Fuglsang for company but there was no sign of Team Sunweb duo Kelderman and Sam Oomen, who were second and third overall. They opted to ride at their own pace but managed to hold onto to their GC placings.

Quintana soon linked up with de la Parte as they chased the other breakaways, as van Avermaet dropped back to help Porte in a big-team pursuit match up the climb to Arosa.

Fortunately for Porte and BMC, the gradient eased considerably in the middle section, allowing van Avermaet to use his power for a long spell at the front. He pegged Quintana's lead and then began to pull him back, bringing the gap to 30 seconds as the final steep four kilometres neared.

When Van Avermaet swung off, Porte accelerated on the big ring and out of the saddle, in pursuit of Quintana, who had just caught and past Dombrowski.

With three kilometres to go, Porte was within touching distance of Quintana but he had nothing left and Quintana kicked again. Fuglsang joined and helped Porte as Quintana pushed his lead back out to 20 seconds and headed to the finish at speed.

There was little time for celebrations but Porte did sportingly congratulate Quintana after a fascinating showdown. Both ended the day on the podium, both knowing they are on form and on track for the Tour de France.

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