Tour de Suisse: Richard Carapaz secures overall as Gino Mäder sprints to final stage win

Gino Mäder (Bahrain-Victorious) outsprinted escape companion Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) to win the final stage of the Tour de Suisse on Sunday.

Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) was able to withstand pressure from a number of his GC rivals to finish fifth on the stage and secure his overall lead.

Swiss rider Mäder took victory at his home race after he had gone clear with Woods over the summit of the final climb of the day.

The duo descended into the final kilometers in Andermatt together before Woods lead out the final sprint in Andermatt. Mäder timed his move to surge past the Canadian in the final 50 meters, scoring his second victory of the season. He also won stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia last month.

Mattia Cattaneo was rewarded for an attacking ride with third-place.

“I came to this, my home race, with ambitions on GC but I messed that up already on stage 3, so I’m incredibly happy,” Mäder said after taking victory.

“This is a big win. The way I won today is different to how I won out of the breakaway [at the Giro] … I think I can say now ‘I’ve arrived.'”

Carapaz’s overall victory comes well-timed. He now heads toward a co-leadership role with Geraint Thomas at the Tour de France in less than two weeks.

“I’m really happy. This is a team victory because we worked together really well – and we got our reward,” he said. “This gives a lot of confidence for what’s to come.”

Hero 🇪🇨 pic.twitter.com/sHFcIw4Aqe

— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) June 13, 2021

Carapaz crossed the line with nearest GC rival Rigoberto Urán (EF-Education Nippo) after the Colombian had repeatedly attacked him through the HC Gotthardpass. The Ecuadorian ace batted away questions about whether he or Thomas would lead the line in France.

“This is a showing of team strength,” Carapaz said. “I’ll share leadership with ‘G.’ We just want to win the Tour and we’ll see how it goes – the race will sort out who is in what role.”

Urán finished second overall at 17-seconds, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Premier Tech) moved up to third place despite a late challenge from Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), who finished fourth.

 

The race all kicked off on the lower slopes of the HC Gotthhardpass.

The speeding peloton scooped up all but Tiesj Benoot (DSM) and Herman Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Victorious) from the day’s 15-rider breakaway.

Ineos Grenadiers did the pulling through the bottom of the 13-kilometer Gotthardpass as Urán, Carapaz, and their GC rivals sat in the wheels. Pavel Sivakov, Rohan Dennis, and Eddie Dunbar all took big pulls for Carapaz as no other team even attempted to take control.

Pernsteiner repeatedly pressured Benoot until he dropped the Belgian in the cobblestone-covered final 5km of the Gotthardpass, and he led the race until a flurry of attacks went out of the GC bunch at the top of the ascent.

Neilson Powless was first to move in an attempt to break the Ineos stranglehold. Powless held a small gap before his captain, Urán, accelerated, with Carapaz and Woods clinging to his wheel.

Woods was next to hit out, putting in a surge that saw him fly solo over the summit of the HC pass with a slender lead over Mäder, who had hit out in a lone pursuit.

Back in the GC group Urán, Carapaz, and Fuglsang traded attacks and counters through the tight hairpins at the top of the Gotthardpass. Schachmann had started the day in third but saw his classification hopes crumbling as he lost the wheels during the repeat accelerations.

Mäder descended like a stone to bridge across to Woods on the long sweeping downhill, and the pair hit the flat final kilometers around 5 seconds ahead of the seven-strong GC group. The two leaders worked together through the run toward the line to hold off the chasing GC group and set up the final sprint.

After being dropped over the climb, Schachmann launched a desperate chase back to the GC group but was never able to regain contact in time, leaving Fuglsang to take the bottom step of the GC podium.