Tour de Suisse stage 7: Rigoberto Urán blazes back with TT victory

Rigoberto Urán (EF-Education Nippo) blazed back to winning ways at the Tour de Suisse on Saturday.

Urán won the up-down mountain time trial into Andermatt in what was his first stage win in three years. The Colombian was fastest up the 9.5-kilometer, 6.5 percent Oberalppass and railed the long descent to take a standout stage victory, winning by 40 seconds.

Uran’s comeback ride comes perfectly timed ahead of him leading EF-Education Nippo at the Tour de France later this month.

“I know this area and this was special,” he said. “I’ve not raced so much because I had a small problem, but now I’m preparing for the Tour de France.”

“I had good legs in the Tour de Suisse but yesterday in the climbs I had less. But today I tried. But for me today it’s a surprise because my legs were incredible.”

As well as marking a return to form after a long dry spell, the victory in Suisse marks a throwback to his first individual stage victory, when he won the race’s seventh stage into Schwarzsee 14 years ago.

“This Tour is hard, and it’s important because my first win in 2007 was at the Tour de Suisse,” he said. “So today was special for me, and for the team.”

https://twitter.com/EFprocycling/status/1403739047122673664

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) rode to second on the stage. The Frenchman raced the entire 23km course on his road bike whereas the majority opted for their TT rigs. Alaphilippe will now leave the race Saturday night to attend the birth of his first child.

Gino Mäder (Bahrain-Victorious) finished third on the stage.

Overnight race-leader Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) was off the pace on the climb but clawed back time on the descent to finish fourth on the stage and hang on to his GC lead.

Urán was the big winner of the day with his dominant victory. After starting the stage 5th overall, the Colombian veteran now sits second on GC, just 17 seconds behind Carapaz with one stage remaining.

Alaphilippe’s attacking TT saw him move up to third on GC – were he to continue the race Sunday. Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) will become third in the classification in Alaphilippe’s absence.

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) started the day second on GC but struggled on the TT, finishing 16th on the stage to slip out of GC contention.

 

The race played out up and over the spectacular Oberalppass, which peaked out a lung-busting 2,046 meters.

Søren Kragh Andersen (DSM) was first into the hotseat with his benchmark time of 37.06. Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) temporarily unseated him in a promising ride after his six-month hiatus.

Dumoulin had only just gotten comfy in the stage-leader’s chair when Mäder set the new fastest time, stopping the clock at 36.56.

Young Swiss Joel Sutter @swisscycling on the climb of stage 7… pic.twitter.com/H7q3BKBWKx

— Tour de Suisse (@tds) June 12, 2021

Mäder’s race-lead looked in doubt as soon as Urán reached the summit of the climb. The 34-year-old was around 12 seconds fastest to the peak and then plummeted like a stone to take more time on all his rivals in the long sweeping descent.

The GC will be decided in the final stage Sunday, a tough multi-mountain test through high altitude Alpine peaks. With Urán and the Ecuadorian rider Carapaz separated by just 17 seconds, expect a high-mountain South American showdown to close the race.