cycling: Tour de Suisse stage #5: Weening takes the stage win, Kelderman yellow

Cycling: Pieter Weening (Roompot) was able to celebrate today's victory in the Tour de Suisse in Amden on wet roads again. Surprisingly, he won the mountain finish from a breakaway group in front of Maximiliano Richeze (Etixx-Quick Step), who was strong in sprinting, and Maciej Paterski (CCC). In the overall standings, the favorites really died, because not only did the yellow jersey of Pierre-Roger Latour (Ag2r) disappear from the group of favorites quite early on in the final climb, but Geraint Thomas (Sky) and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) also lost today a lot of time. Meanwhile, Wilco Kelderman (Lotto-NL Jumbo) took the overall lead.

Jasha Sütterlin as a noble helper for Gorka Izaguirre

The drivers also had to contend with heavy rain on today's 162,8 km section from Weesen to Amden. Because of this, many riders dropped out, including Matthias Frank (IAM), Lars Boom (Astana), Kanstantin Siutsou (Dimension Data), Tiago Machado (Katusha), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Imanuele Boaro (Tinkoff). Others, on the other hand, had made a lot of plans for today and pulled away. A leading group of 15 riders, including the two Swiss Gregory Rast (Trek-Segafredo) and Martin Elmiger (IAM) as well as stage winner Maximiliano Richeze (Etixx-Quick Step), mountain jersey wearer Antwan Tolhoek (Roompot) and Philipe Gilbert (BMC). Tolhoek also won the honor category of the Klausenpass and thus extended his lead in the mountains classification. Germany's Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar) was also in this group, but he wasn't allowed to drive on his own and had to wait for his team-mate Gorka Izaguirre after crossing the fog-covered Klausen Pass. The overall seventh attacked from the field and thus put several teams under pressure. In the flat section between the Klausen Pass and the final climb to Amden, the Spaniard was able to rest in the slipstream of the German and thus kept the gap to both the field and the leading group at around three minutes. Since Gorka Izaguirre was only 27 seconds behind the leading Pierre-Roger Latour (Ag2r) in the overall standings, a number of teams in the peloton took part in the follow-up work.

Favorites die up to Amden

Sütterlin worked for Gorka Izaguirre up to the foot of the final climb. The Spaniard then had to master the last eight kilometers with an average incline of 10,2 percent as a soloist. While it was all about the overall standings for him, it was already clear to the leading group that they would fight for the day's victory among themselves today. Pieter Weeening (Roompot) pulled away from his competitors. Meanwhile, last year's winner Simon Spilak (Katusha) attacked from the field, but was caught up again a short time later. On the other side, Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) and unfortunately also the yellow jersey of Pierre-Roger Latour fell out. A kind of truce could be observed in the ever smaller group of favorites, as all riders knew that the only thing that mattered was making up time on Gorka Izaguirre on the climb. When Weening was already happy about his victory in the rain-soaked finish, Geraint Thomas (Sky) surprisingly lost contact with the group of favorites. Gorka Izaguirre also seemed to be slowing down and losing more and more of his former advantage over the group of favorites until he was finally caught by her within the last kilometer.

Wilco Kelderman takes yellow

Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (Cannondale) did an excellent job on the final climb for teammate Andrew Talansky, keeping the pace high enough to catch Gorka Izaguirre and put his captain in a great position. However, Wilco Kelderman (Lotto-NL Jumbo) seemed completely unimpressed by everything. The Dutchman won the sprint for fifth place against Talansky and took over the leader's jersey after the race. In the overall standings, it now seems to be a three-way battle. Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin), Talansky and Kelderman are within 20 seconds. However, a very special achievement today should not go unmentioned: Maximiliano Richeze (Etixx-Quick Step) won a mass sprint at the Tour de Suisse two days ago and the Argentinian is actually generally regarded as a sprinter. Today he was second in the uphill finish to Amden.

Tour de Suisse - The daily result of the 5th stage

 

Tour de Suisse – The overall standings after the 5th stage