Cycling: The last 50 kilometers of the Tour de Suisse brought the decision - in favor of the winner of the past two years. Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) managed to break away from Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) on the penultimate climb of the tour and snatched the lead from Eschborn after eight days.
The 156-kilometer stage from Martigny to Saas-Fe started quickly. A group of five broke away after the first twenty kilometers, but was soon replaced by a group of 16 riders at the front. This included Steve Morabito (BMC), Nino Schurter (Orica-GreenEdge), Andy Schleck (Trek) and Johann Tschopp (IAM).
The group was able to gain a maximum lead of 1:45 minutes in the further sale of the stage. Not enough, as it turned out. On the penultimate climb, Costa, Mathias Frank (IAM) and Bauke Mollema (Belkin) broke away from a trio that had taken places three to five behind Martin in the overall standings before the stage. The Eschborner could follow them just as little as Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo). Both lost more than two minutes to the finish. For the two-time stage winner Martin, this meant fourth place in the final ranking.
Costa, Frank and Mollema meanwhile made up the race among themselves. Even before the top of the pass in Eischoll, they caught up with the rest of the former leading group. Frank's teammate Marcel Wyss subsequently provided the team's po and thus leads the lead to the finish climb to Saas-Fe.
With 3,5 kilometers to go, Frank attacked, but was immediately exposed to Costa's counterattack. He had nothing to oppose to this. Together with Mollema, he started chasing the Portuguese world champion, but they couldn't reach his rear wheel.
In addition to the day's win, Costa also secured his first victory in the jersey of the world champion. Added to this is the hat-trick in the Tour de Suisse, which automatically makes him one of the favorites for the upcoming Tour de France. Second place in the overall standings went to Frank, who suffered a defect in the last corner, but was able to keep ahead of Mollema, who was second on the day, with third place on the stage.