Tour de Suisse: Bernal secures overall victory

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Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) secured overall victory at the Tour de Suisse while Hugh Carthy (EF Eduction First) scored a remarkable win on the final stage after a 90km solo raid over the the Nufenenpass, San Gottardo and Furkapass.

Carthy reached the finish in Ulrichen 1:03 clear of Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) and Bernal, who both went clear of the other GC contenders atop the Furkapass, but the Briton’s victory was never in doubt from the moment he hit the base of the final ascent with a shade over three minutes in hand on the yellow jersey group.

Although Carthy had gone clear of the early attackers on the Nufenenpass and led alone over the San Gottardo, he still appeared to be climbing fluidly on the lower slopes of the Furkapass. That impression was borne out by the time gap at the summit, where, with 26km remaining, he still had 2:45 in hand on Dennis and Bernal. Carthy conceded some ground on the flat run-in that followed the descent, though by then, stage victory was long since assured.

“On the first climb I knew the legs, body and head was good. It was just a time trial – the same for everybody – just one effort per climb. You just have to believe you can do it,” said Carthy, who also picked up the king of the mountains title in the process.

"It genuinely wasn't planned. Two days ago on the stage to San Gottardo I was terrible. My head, legs and body were tired, and I just wanted to be on holiday and finish the first part of the season. Yesterday in the time trial the legs were better. Today it was one last chance and I wanted to finish on a high before the holidays.”

Dennis claimed second place overall after riding with considerable ambition on this final stage. He made a game attempt at dislodging the implacable Bernal from the yellow jersey by attacking near the top of the Furkapass, and though he was unable to shake off Bernal, his effort did bring the top two overall clear of the rest of their GC rivals.

Dennis and Bernal descended the Furkapass together and reached the finish in Ulrichen in second and third place on the stage, respectively. In the overall standings, Dennis thus finishes 19 seconds down on Bernal, while Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) did enough to retain third place, albeit some 3:04 behind. Dennis will begin the Tour de France in support of Vincenzo Nibali, but his climbing exploits on this race will surely have given him renewed confidence in his ability in the high mountains.

Bernal, meanwhile, arrived at the Tour de Suisse as deputy to Geraint Thomas, but he proved an able replacement leader when the Welshman crashed out on stage 4. Already winner of Paris-Nice this season, Bernal delivered an assured performance in Switzerland, winning Friday’s stage atop the San Gottardo and then defending his yellow jersey with a fine display on the penultimate day time trial. He withstood Dennis’s late onslaught here to confirm himself among the favourites for the forthcoming Tour de France.

“I think that it is one of the biggest races I have won, so I really have a lot of confidence for the next races and I’m really happy because before this race I had a big crash and I could not go to the Giro d’Italia,” Bernal said. “So to come here and win is really nice for me and the team.”

How it unfolded

The final stage of the Tour de Suisse was short but exceedingly difficult, with three mountain passes in excess of 2,100 metres shoehorned into just 101km of racing. The brevity of the stage encouraged early aggression, but few could have imagined that one rider would manage to spend the bulk of the afternoon alone on the front as Carthy did here.

Carthy was among the first riders to force the issue on the lower slopes of the Nufenenpass, and as the gradient stiffened, the Briton preferred to press on at his own pace rather than wait for company. He crested the summit 40 seconds clear of a group containing Mark Soler (Movistar), Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates), Lennard Kämna (Sunweb) and Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale), while Ineos set the tempo in a reduced peloton, 2:30 behind.

On the cobbles of the San Gottardo, Carthy maintained his brisk tempo, climbing out of the saddle when the gradient demanded and always maintaining his gap over the chasers, who had now been joined by Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin). The going proved too demanding for Aru, who was distanced on the upper reaches of the climb. Come the summit, Carthy had 1:20 over Spilak, Kämna, Soler and Frank, while an Astana-led peloton was 3:20 behind.

Carthy was in a race of his own come the base of the Furkapass, where he held a buffer of two minutes over his immediate pursuers and 3:15 on the yellow jersey group. Behind, meanwhile, the race for the podium places was igniting in earnest. Jan Hirt (Astana) attacked at the foot of the Furkapass after some brisk pace-making from teammate Luis Leon Sanchez, and he was later joined by Enric Mas (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

By now, Bernal was bereft of Ineos teammates and it was Bahrain-Merida who took up the reins of pursuit, with Domenico Pozzovivo putting in a fine cameo in support of Dennis. The Italian’s tempo riding first helped to peg back Mas and Hirt, and then whittled the yellow jersey group down to its bare bones.

Approaching the summit, only Bernal, Dennis, Konrad, Hirt and Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) remained in contact with Pozzovivo. When he swung over, Dennis took it upon himself to go on the offensive and although he was unable to shake off Bernal, this duo had the strength to distance the rest of the podium contenders. Konrad did enough to ensure he finished on the third step of the rostrum by coming home 2:15 down alongside Benoot and Hirt, who had to settle for 4th and 5th place overall, respectively.

The day belonged to Carthy, who admitted that his overriding emotion one of relief. The week, however, was all about Bernal, who downplayed the idea that July might belong to him too, insisting that Geraint Thomas will lead Ineos at the Tour de France.

“I don’t choose to say that I am the favourite,” Bernal said. “In any case, I will go with G. he will be our leader. I will try to help him. If he’s better than me, then for sure I will help him. I don’t have any problem to help him. I am still only 22 years old, I think I have a lot of Tours in front of me.”

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