Featured image courtesy of gettyimages
Just two weeks remain until the start of the Tour de France. If the Critérium du Dauphiné was anything to by, the racing at the Tour de Suisse should have been no different. It comes down to a choice between the Dauphiné, Switzerland and maybe minor races such as the Tour of Slovenia, the Baloise Tour of Belgium and the Route d’Occitanie, to decide how you prepare for the next Grand Tour. One thing is for sure, we were treated to another excellent edition of the Tour de Suisse.
Here are five talking points.
1 – Richard Carapaz seals the overall win
Records are being created every time Richard Carapaz takes a major title. First Ecuadorian to win a Grand Tour stage, first Ecuadorian to win a Grand Tour and now the first Ecuadorian to take the Tour de Suisse title overall. The 2019 Giro winner is well on course to try his hand at maybe having a say in the yellow jersey fight come two weeks’ time.
The INEOS Grenadiers game plan was to send Geraint Thomas, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Richie Porte to the Dauphiné and it worked a treat for Porte to win overall. The team sent to France on paper was stronger than what has helped Carapaz in Switzerland, but in the end it’s an overall victory that will give him huge amounts of confidence.
The race lead was taken on Stage 5, winning the stage at Leukerbad and then holding it all the way to the final stage in Andermatt. While the two time trials aren’t his strong point, INEOS will be delighted to see Richard Carapaz taking the overall crown for a team who will be the ones to beat come the 26th June. The team around him was strong throughout but we still do not know what the roster will be for INEOS at the Tour.
Geraint Thomas looks set to be the leader; Tao Geoghegan Hart as last year’s Giro champion should be in as will Richie Porte. But where does Richard Carapaz fit? He has skipped the Giro which means in all likelihood he will be arriving in France but as a support rider for Thomas or maybe riding for yellow?
When riding for his previous team at Movistar it wasn’t expected that Richard Carapaz would win the Giro two years ago. Team leader Mikel Landa was the designated number one but managed fourth overall. A bad omen for Geraint Thomas is that history repeats itself. Could it be that Richard Carpaz does to Geraint Thomas what Egan Bernal did to the Welshman? Bernal in 2019 won the Tour de Suisse that very year, Carapaz has just done the same…
2 Arriving at the Tour will be a ball to van der Poel
It was unfortunate to see Mathieu van der Poel abandon the race just one day after taking back-to-back stage wins. A statement from Alpecin-Fenix said: “After the rainfall from the past days, Mathieu van der Poel is suffering from a mild cold. “While he was looking forward to the next stages, the team’s medical staff decided to pull him out of the Tour de Suisse so as not to compromise his health in light of his next goals.”
Taking precautions is necessary to make sure a rider is fit and ready for a bike race, and not just any bike race, just the small matter of a debut Tour de France for the Dutchman on the horizon. Two stage wins in Switzerland will be the perfect preparation you need for the Tour, forcing a breakaway on Stage 2 to outsprint Bora-Hansgrohe’s Max Schachmann and then beating the likes of Julian Alaphilippe and Christophe Laporte in a bunch sprint on Stage 3.
Stellar form before the Tour and then comes the countdown to Tokyo. What can we expect from Mathieu van der Poel in France? A stage win, maybe the yellow jersey on day one? Many more names will contest the glory but the Dutch superstar will arrive as a known quantity for lighting up cycling wherever he goes alongside no Grand Tour experience. That is certainly a recipe for exciting MVDP style racing.
3 Urán and Fuglsang make the podium
It looks set to be another appearance at the Tour for Colombian Rigoberto Urán and Dane Jakob Fuglsang who have finished second and third overall in Switzerland.
Taking the win on Stage 7’s individual time trial was quite a surprising result for Urán but then again we’ve known that he can produce decent results against the clock. After finishing second to Chris Froome at the Tour in 2017 since then the Colombian hasn’t been in top form to reach the same heights, but going into this year’s edition there is every chance EF Education Nippo will throw all their hopes on his GC possibilities. A huge amount of confidence for Urán who can climb and with two time trials on the Tour route this year, you just never know.
After skipping the Tour last year for the Giro, Jakob Fuglsang will be hoping for better at the Tour de France, a race where he has had the worst luck possible. In 2017 he fractured his wrist and in 2019 he fell in a crash on day one and later had to abandon on Stage 16. A third place in Switzerland will do him the world of good and another high placing on GC at the Tour avoiding bad luck will be his and Astana’s priority.
Elsewhere we saw good rides by Bora-Hansgrohe’s Max Schachmann and Israel-Start Up Nation’s Michael Woods. For German rider Schachmann he already has one Grand Tour stage win under his belt at the Giro so how about the Tour? The two-times Paris-Nice champion has all the pedigree to climb and deliver so much should be expected of him. For Woods it does remain to be seen as to whether he will be joined at the Tour by Chris Froome. Targeting GC or going for stage wins will be the decision the team will have to make. The signs suggest that Froome won’t be capable of winning a fifth Tour but will Canadian Woods get a chance at the GC instead?
4 Swiss stars shining bright
For Switzerland’s own home-grown talent, we saw three stage wins for them at their home race after Romandie. Stefan Küng took the honours on the opening time trial Frauenfeld, a rider who has won major stages at the Tour of Romandie, the BinckBank Tour and now a second victory at Suisse. A decent time trialist as the current European TT champion, he’ll be one to watch at the Tour.
Stefan Bisseger is another new kid on the block when it comes to time trialling. He already has a first professional career win at Paris-Nice last March but to win a stage in his home country will be seen as a milestone. Just 22-years-of-age, there is plenty to be hopeful about for the EF Education Nippo rider. He makes his Grand Tour debut at the Tour and should be counted as a contender to do well at both individual time trials.
And to cap off a perfect Tour de Suisse for Switzerland, Gino Mäder took the final stage at Andermatt. Another young talent who already has a Grand Tour stage win at the Giro last May, he won’t be riding the Tour but the Vuelta is well within his sights.
Three individual stage wins for the Swiss, their best tally since 2009 when Fabian Cancellara won twice and Michael Albasini won Stage 5 to Serfaus. You have to go back to 1989 when the Swiss scored their best amount of home stage victories, when four individual riders won four stages. It’s also been a long time since Switzerland last won the race overall, Cancellara in 2009, but we’ll forgive Gino Mäder for taking 27th overall this year.
5 Dumoulin back on the bike
A welcome return for Dutchman Tom Dumoulin after stepping away from cycling back in January. It’s been an unfortunate couple of years since winning the Giro in 2017. First came the slight disappointment of what if after finishing second at both the Giro and Tour in 2018, and then came the unlucky injury he suffered in Italy the following year. Leaving the Giro after just four stages is a rotten bit of luck and sadly Dumoulin hasn’t had any.
Moving to Jumbo-Visma has been a small sign of some rejuvenation but taking a break from the sport seems to have done him the world of good. It was great to see Dumoulin back on the time trial bike as a former world champion in the discipline he is and always will be world class at. Getting the legs moving again at high altitude will be important as the Dutchman moves ahead to new targets, where we must not forget that we have a Grand Tour winner on our hands.
The Dutch national championships are coming soon and although it might be a tall ask to see him crowned Dutch TT champion, it’s more preparation for Tokyo where he may yet feature. The Tour de France comes too early but maybe a ride at the Vuelta could come soon? Whatever schedule both Tom Dumoulin and Jumbo-Visma have in mind, it is wonderful to see him back doing what he does best.
With the Tour de Suisse and the Dauphiné now over, attention turns towards the Tour. We do have national championships on the horizon too to decide who is crowned time trial and road champion for their countries. A great eight days of racing in Switzerland which leaves us with more questions heading into the three week circus around France.
