Team dsm-firmenich PostNL hit the fast and frantic shortened sixth stage at the Tour de Suisse on the offensive with Frank van den Broek spending the majority of the stage at the front of the race before a strong final climb by Oscar Onley to finish 12th.
The stage was just 42.5 kilometres, ending on the climb up to Blatten. The first part of the stage was largely downhill and it was here that van den Broek went clear with just two others for company and quickly built up a lead of over one minute. On the lower slopes of the final climb, van den Broek pulled clear on his own, eventually being caught with less than four kilometres to go.
He dug deep to give teammate Onley some support as he passed from behind with the GC battle unravelling. Onley finished strongly to cross the line just outside the top 10.
After the stage Frank van den Broek commented: “I went with the first attack of the day and it immediately stuck, ending up with just three guys. We worked well together and I started the climb with a small advantage, enough to ride my own pace. I could then help Oscar in the last two or three kilometres and then rode to a nice result myself too. We had the plan to do this and executed it well. We’re still up there in the GC with Oscar and have an exciting weekend to come.”
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Pim Lighart added: “We took the gamble to follow the first move from km 0. Frank went up the road in order to fight for the stage or to have someone up there to support Oscar on the climb. Oscar struggled a bit in the final and here Frank came into play to support Oscar to limit his losses. We dropped one place in GC but with two hard days to come still we are already motivated to fight back.”
