Tour de Suisse: Rigoberto Uran wins stage 7 time trial

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Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) had a time trial to remember winning stage 7 of Tour de Suisse over the mountain pass of Oberalp Pass and giving his overall chances a boost. 

The 34-year-old won the individual time trial by 40 seconds from Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in second while Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious) placed third on the stage. 

It was the Colombian's first win in almost three years as he prepares for the Tour De France later this month.

Yellow jersey wearer Carapaz started the day 1:11 ahead of Uran in the general classification but saw his margin cut to 17 seconds ahead of the final stage with Alaphilippe just 39 seconds back in third overall. 

The 23.2-kilometre time trial consisted of a 10-kilometre climb to the summit of Oberalp Pass before a fast and technical 11-kilometre descent into the finish at Andermatt.

The up and down nature of the time trial also gave riders a selection problem of whether to choose a road or specialised time trial bike for the long valley road to the foot of the mountain’s hairpins. 

Uran opted for a time trial position and led throughout moving up to second overall and putting pressure on race leader Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers). 

“I’m surprised,” said Uran. 

“For me this is so special because I haven’t raced much after a small problem and I look forward to the Tour De France. 

“I have good legs in this year’s Tour de Suisse, yesterday on the climb I had less but today I try. For me it’s a surprise because my legs today were incredible."

Tomorrow’s eighth and final stage includes three mountain passes with the final Gotthard Pass coming at 144.4 kilometres which is 15 kilometres from the finish including a descent and flat run into Andermatt. 

“This tour is hard and very important because of my (stage) victory in 2007 was in the Tour de Suisse," added Uran.

“I will try, tomorrow is also a hard stage. Today was so special because the time trial was special with the climb and the downhill. It’s a special day for me and my team.” 

How it unfolded

The field was split into two sections to allow the team cars to return to the start before the favourites took to the course. 

Leading the 67 riders from the first block of riders was Jonas Rutsch (EF Education – Nippo) with the 23-year-old German clocking a time of 37 minutes and 37 seconds. 

Rutsch also had the leading time over the King of the Mountains time check at the summit of the Oberalp Pass after 11.9 kilometres at over 2,000 metres. 

After losing time of the general classification, Marc Soler (Movistar) was also in first wave of riders but despite being just four seconds behind Rutsch at the time split the Spaniard finished 27 seconds down on the early leader in 38:04 after a slow descent into Andermatt. 

Meanwhile, Canadian Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) also posted a respectable time of 39:07 after good climb up the Oberalp Pass to hold third place after the first wave of riders. 

Soren Kragh Andersen (Team DSM) was an early starter in the second wave quickly passing his minute man and flying up the Oberalp Pass 35 seconds faster than early leader Rutsch on his road bike. 

Anderson, riding a road bike with a disc back wheel, powered out of each corner on the descent clocking a new leading time of 37:06.  

Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) was one of the riders who selected to have a time trial set-up despite the technical descent into the finish. 

The Dutchman showed return to form with a time of 26:43 at the top of the Oberalp Pass which was six seconds faster than Anderson before the fast descent down to the finish. 

However, his leading time at the day’s only time split did not last long as Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious) showed his post-Giro form going nine seconds faster than Dumoulin up the climb (26:34) at the split. 

At the finish, Dumoulin beat Anderson’s time by eight seconds with a new fastest time of 36:58. 

Mader struggled on his time trial bike with the fast cornering on the descent but despite losing time he beat Dumoulin by two seconds stopping the clock in 36:56. 

The overall classification battle saw Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) sit just 26 seconds behind yellow jersey wearer Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) ahead of stage 7 with both adopting time trial set-ups. 

Meanwhile, Maximillian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) also posed a threat to the overall lead. 

On the course, Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck-QuickStep) threw his hat into the ring for the stage victory clocking 26:40 at the top of the Oberalp Pass just five seconds down on leader Mader. 

Pushing a big gear over the top, Domenico Pozzovivo (Team Qhubeka Assos) powered his way over the time split and went fastest ahead of descent with a lead of six seconds over Mader. 

Starting close together, firstly, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and then Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) set new leading times at the time split with the Colombian having a lead of 12 seconds before the descent into the finish. 

Uran’s time also put his overall challengers under pressure with Schachmann losing 1:13 and Fuglsang 1:34 up the Oberalp Pass, while Carapaz was 48 seconds down on the Colombian at the check point. 

Uran stormed into the lead in Andermatt increasing his lead on the descent to set a new benchmark of 36:02, some 54 seconds quicker than previous leader Mader. 

There is some doubt over whether Alaphilippe will start the final stage due to the impending birth of his child, but he took second coming home just 39 seconds down on Uran. 

After losing a host of time on the climb Fuglsang was one of those that threw everything at the descent and clocking some scary speeds in the process. 

Fuglsang eventually lost 1-43 to Uran on the stage while Schachmann lost 1:23.

Yellow jersey wearer Carapaz came home in fourth place and lost 54 seconds on the day to Uran and will start the final stage with a slender advantage of 17 seconds. 

Alaphilippe pulled back to 39 seconds down on general classification while Schachmann is at 1:07 and Fuglsang starts the day 1:15 down.