After some days in the hills, the Tour de Suisse headed to its first mountain-top finish on Wednesday afternoon; with the famous Gotthard Pass seeing a battle between the climbers of the peloton.
A fast start saw a break form out front, with all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders remaining in the bunch, keeping GC finisher Oscar Onley safe ahead of the tough finale. Working well as a group the team managed the day well and brought the climbing group into a good position as they hit the lower slopes of the Gotthard Pass. Out front, the break had built up a large advantage and Træen would have enough left in the tank to hold on for the stage win. Back in the peloton, the pace increased as the kilometres ticked by, with the bunch thinning out. Onley remained attentive at the front after being well positioned by the team and he tried to follow Yates’ stinging attack. Having to then set his own pace, he formed part of a chasing group and kept pushing all the way to the line; ultimately sprinting to a strong sixth place on the day and moving up to the same spot on the overall GC with the team.
Onley expressed: “The guys did a really good job again today protecting me throughout the stage. On the climb, Frank put me on the UAE train as they started to increase the pace which was perfect and from there it was just down to the legs. I made a couple of mistakes but it’s a solid start and something to build on for the rest of the week I think.”