Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) soloed to victory on stage 7 of the Tour de Suisse, paying tribute to Gino Mäder as he crossed the line in Weinfelden after a 17km effort to end a muted day of racing.
The Belgian went clear just past the summit of the day’s final climb, with GC times having already been taken 25km from the finish in order to allow riders to race the final as they wish just a day after Mäder’s passing.
Evenepoel dispatched with an elite lead group which had formed on the Otteneberg climb thanks to the pacemaking of Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers. Jayco-AlUla neo-pro Welay Berhe put up the most resistance, reacting to the acceleration before falling back.
From there, Evenepoel had little competition thereafter, quickly building a 30-second lead on the way down, which only extended as he powered home to the finish.
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was the fastest man in the chase group just under 30 seconds later, the Belgian leading home Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Lorrenzo Manzin (TotalEnergies) in the chase group.
The 183.5km stage from Tübach was a quiet affair for the most part, with riders rolling out in the morning wearing black armbands in tribute to Mäder. His Bahrain Victorious squad was one of three to leave the race altogether ahead of the stage as Tudor and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty decided against continuing.
Others who opted against racing on included Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), as a total of 37 riders headed home.
For the most part, the stage was a procession. With no attacks made in the early stages, it was clear that there wouldn’t be any real racing before the finish. Instead, the peloton raced along the route all together as the likes of Trek-Segafredo and Alpecin-Deceuninck led the way.
The GC-focussed teams took charge at the front in the lead-in to the 25km mark, where GC times would be recorded – the peloton passed through safely and all together. EF Education-EasyPost led the way onto the climb with a high pace before Jumbo-Visma pushed on to shred the peloton on the ascent of the Otteneberg (3.4km at 6.1%).
A small elite group of around 10 men emerged at the front, with Ineos Grenadiers enjoying three men up there, including Tom Pidcock and Michał Kwiatkowski. Neither they nor Van Aert, Berhe, or Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) had an answer for Evenepoel’s move just after the summit, though.
The Belgian did what he’s done numerous times in his short career, powering away from his rivals before racing alone solo. His lone effort will have been daunting for his GC rivals in Sunday’s closing time trial – Evenepoel remains 46 seconds down on race leader Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo), but on an undulating 25.7km course, the win might still be possible.
But first, there’s the stage 7 victory to savour, and a tribute to Mäder at the finish to conclude a ride the attacking Swiss rider would certainly have enjoyed.
“It was clear for all of you as well that the race was kind of neutralised until 25km to go,” Evenepoel said after the race. “Then everybody was free to race, and we had the plan for Tim Merlier to get over the climb and try to sprint. But the climb was very hard. Wout and his team went super hard on the climb.
“First, I wanted to help Tim and Bert over the climb, but they quickly screamed at me that I had to go myself, that they saw I was looking very good. I’m not the kind of guy that just quits the race even though the situation is very, very hard for everybody. In my opinion, this was the best way to honour Gino.
“It was just my goal, to win it for Gino.”
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