Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) cemented his lead at the Tour de Suisse by soloing to victory on the summit finish at Carì on stage 5.
The Briton was teed up for victory by a remarkable stint of pace-making from his teammate João Almeida, who helped himself to second place on the day, just five seconds down.
Egan Bernal (Ineos) took a battling third place at 15 seconds ahead of an impressive Matthew Riccitello (Israel Premier Tech) and Enric Mas (Movistar) on a day when Tadej Pogačar’s key mountain domestiques underlined their readiness for the Tour de France.
After Ineos had been to the fore for much of the afternoon, UAE Team Emirates took over on the climb to the finish, with Isaac del Toro beginning the winnowing process for Yates. The front group began to be whittled down in earnest once Almeida took over with 6.5km to go.
Soon afterwards, dangermen like Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) were distanced, leaving only ten riders in contention with 5km remaining.
Almeida continued to dial up the pace thereafter, and only three riders – Mas, Bernal and Riccitello – remained in contact with the UAE duo come the final 3km of the climb.
Yates’ inevitable attack finally came with 1.7km to go. Bernal and Mas attempted to follow, but the Colombian soon tapped out to follow his own pace. Mas managed to stay in touch with Yates into the final kilometre, but he too had to yield when the Briton kicked again 800m from the line.
On the approach to the line, Almeida underscored his strength by catching and passing Bernal and Mas to take second place on the stage.
In the overall standings, Almeida remains in second place, now 35 seconds behind Yates, while Bernal moves up to third at 1:11.
“It was a really strong performance,” Yates said. “João was putting on a crazy pace and I only had to follow for 4 or 5k, and even when I attacked, he was still there. He’s obviously in super great shape and the whole team is very motivated for the rest of the week.”
Yates had spoken beforehand of his need to gain more ground ahead of the final time trial to Villars-sur-Ollon. On the evidence of Thursday’s stage, it looks as though his biggest rival for overall victory is the man who did so much to tee up his victory here. Despite the yellow jersey on his back, Yates insisted he and Almeida remained co-leaders.
“If João is stronger than me, then he can win,” Yates said. “He showed that today when he really put the pace on. If he has the same legs in the next few days, then for sure he can take the win.”
Everyone else, meanwhile, may be left feeding on scraps.
How it Unfolded
The short, sharp stage from Ambrì to Carì was a day of two distinct parts, with two tough climbs in the opening 30km followed by a long valley ahead of the haul to the finish. Inevitably, those early ascents encouraged an attacking start to the day, with Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Qazaqstan) charging off the front in a seven-man move on the first ascent of Altanca.
A flurry of attack and counter-attack saw the composition of the front group change several times on the way up the second climb to Carì – which was later tackled from the other side as the summit finish – but Lutsenko was a constant.
For much of the climb of Carì, Lutsenko had Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Ben Zwiehoff (Bora Hansgrohe), Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), Damien Howson (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep) and Nans Peters (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) for company, but he set off alone again near the summit.
Lutsenko reached the top with a handful of seconds over the bunch, which was led by Ineos, and although he was caught on the descent, he was soon on the offensive once again. Once more, Williams and Peters came with him, and they were joined by Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Johannes Staune-Mittet (Visma-Lease A Bike).
On the valley road that followed, the race finally settled into a holding pattern, with the five leaders building a buffer of two minutes over the peloton on the long approach to the final ascent.
By the time Rubio, Lutsenko et al were fighting for the Tissot Kilometre sprints in the finale, however, their lead was already dwindling, with Ineos again taking up the reins and looking to find a way of isolating Yates and Almeida. Once the climb began in earnest, the break started to fragment, and the reduced peloton began to bear down upon them, catching them inside the final 10km.
Isaac del Toro set the tempo for UAE on the lower slopes of the climb, and his effort began to pare down the bunch. Riccitello’s attack with 7.5km remaining was soon snuffed out, but the American would prove one of the day’s most striking performers.
The MVP, however, was Almeida, who took over from Del Toro with 6.5km to go and immediately stamped his authority on proceedings with a rasping display of pace-making.
Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), third overall at the start of the day, was among the first riders to pay the price, but he was far from alone in struggling with Almeida’s pace. The Visma-Lease a Bike pair of Wilco Kelderman and Cian Uijtdebroeks were dropped soon afterwards. Tom Pidcock (Ineos), Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe), Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R) and Oscar Onley (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) stood firm until a little over 4km remaining, eventually losing around a minute by the summit.
Only Bernal, Mas and Riccitello could match Almeida and Yates into the final 3km, but they were unable to resist their force all the way to the top.
“Today was not easy for us,” Yates insisted. “Ineos set a hard pace on the first two climbs to try to flick us, but in between we got organised and came back as a team, and we could do our pace in the final. It’s a good position to be in now, with two guys in such great shape."
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
