Cycling: The sixth stage of the Tour de Suisse presented a more demanding profile than the previous two days. The teams of climbers tried to put the overall leader Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) under pressure.
However, the start of the almost 195-kilometer stage from Büren to Delémont was determined by a four-man lead group. Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha), Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana) and Jacobus Venter (MTN-Qhubeka) experienced a lead of over four minutes over the first two mountains classifications.
However, this began to drop drastically about 40 kilometers from the finish at the Col de Rangiers. Alone, Albasini, who was able to break away from his comrades-in-arms, tried to defend himself against the field led by Sky. But after 140 kilometers at the front, his escape was over.
A few kilometers later, Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano) attacked together with Björn Thurau (Europcar), who wanted to score points for the mountains classification in order to defend his lead in this classification. But the field did not rest. Both were put back under Sky's tempo dictate.
BMC also joined the lead on the final climb of the day. However, it was the IAM team around Mathias Frank that finally set the tone on the nearly three-kilometer Le Rond-Pré. A kilometer from the top of the pass, the Swiss finally fled. He was followed by Peter Sagan (Cannondale), who was even able to break away easily. However, he was followed by a strong group that included Martin, Sergio Henao (Sky), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) and reigning XC World Champion Nino Schurter (Orica-GreenEdge).
Together the group took the descent to Delémont. Until Sagan worked out a small lead. The Slovakian, who is known as a good downhill skier, finally got support from Marcus Burghardt (BMC). The Zschopauer also introduced Georg Preidler (Giant-Shimano) to Sagan. But the advance was not blamed for luck.
With two kilometers to go, Martin led the field past Sagan's group. And made sure that the top of the field divided. Six riders were able to break away easily. Among them Matteo Trentin, who sprinted to victory from his captain's rear wheel. Second was Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo), who relegated Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) and Ben Swift (Sky) to third and fourth place respectively. Sagan ended up fifth.
Tony Martin is the leader in tomorrow's individual time trial. His advantage over Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) is six seconds. Peter Sagan follows in third place, ten seconds behind.
Tour de Suisse – result
Tour de Suisse – overall