The third day of racing at the Tour de Suisse saw a route that was back loaded with several short but sharp climbs where teams could make the stage hard and more selective. Leaving the start in Steinmaur, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL rode well throughout the day, aiming to keep GC finisher Oscar Onley safe ahead of the hilly finale. Doing just that, the break was ultimately caught in the last 20 kilometres; where a strong pace was set over the ascents and the bunch thinned out. Some strong early positioning by the team saw Onley and Frank van den Broek well to the fore over the last categorised climb, before the race plunged downhill and towards two uncategorised ramps, with the latter of the two ramps leading up to the finish.
Van den Broek positioned Onley perfectly for the last kickers, before the young Scot reacted well to follow the attacks and always ensured that he was in a good position after that. Coming onto the last explosive kick up to the line, Onley dug as deep as he could all the way to the finish, crossing in a group that was just seven seconds behind the winner on the day. Tomorrow’s stage heads to the first mountain-top finish of the race on the Gotthard Pass.
Speaking after stage three Onley expressed: “The guys did a really good job protecting me all day and then positioning me into the final climbs. Frank put me in an ideal position on the final descent into the last three kilometres, but unfortunately I blew up a bit in the final kick to the line. I’m feeling quite good though and I’m looking forward to some harder stages now.”
