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Tour de Suisse Discussion
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 19-04-2020 20:48
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 Tour de Suisse
History
| Year | Winner | Team | | 2018 | Silvio Herklotz | Team Puma - SAP | | 2017 | Rein Taaramäe | Wiesenhof-Andritz | | 2016 | Andy Schleck | Vesuvio - Accumalux | | 2015 | Simon Spilak | Festina-Canal+ | | 2014 | Andy Schleck | Vesuvio - Accumalux | | 2013 | Andrei Amador | UBS - BMC | | 2012 | Aleksandr Pluchkin | Team B&O | | 2011 | Taylor Phinney | Wikipedia | | 2010 | Emanuele Sella | Lipton Ice Tea | | 2009 | Frank Schleck | Accumalux-Formex | | 2008 | Damiano Cunego | La Gazetta dello Sport | | 2007 | Alexandre Vinokourov | T-Mobile |
Tour de Suisse is a classic fixture on the calendar, going into its thirteenth edition this year. This nine-day race is mainly used as preparation for the Tour de France. Switzerland is known as an Alpine country and for its watches, so it should be no surprise we have mountain stage and time trials. With the race being held concurrently with Criterium du Dauphine Libere, the climbers are split between here and there. Reigning champion Herklotz has elected to participate in France, but last year's Dauphine winner Phinney has come here. He won the race all the way back in 2011 and is the only former winner on the startlist.
Profiles
The race opens with a flat stage around Frauenfeld, before heading to France for a 52 kilometer time trial which will set the order for the remaining stages. The third stage is the first mountain stage, with an uphill finish in Schwarzenbach. Next the riders head to Bern on a flat stage but an uphill finish, not ideal for the sprinters. The fifth stage contains a climb towards the end, followed by a short downhill to Gstaad. Stage six takes the riders over two hors category climbs, but the final climb is relatively short. Bellinzona hosts stages seven and eight, a flat stage and a 32 kilometer time trial. For the final stage the riders climb to Villars-sur-Ollon, followed by the podium celebrations and champagne showers.
Startlist
| Favorites | MO | TT | RES | Outsiders | MO | TT | RES |  Kritskiy | 84 | 80 | 76 |  Preidler | 80 | 58 | 77 |  Phinney | 83 | 83 | 74 |  Seboka | 80 | 53 | 70 |  Cattaneo | 82 | 79 | 80 |  Konig | 79 | 74 | 76 |  Quintana | 82 | 71 | 76 |  Brambilla | 79 | 70 | 73 |  Keizer | 81 | 81 | 79 |  Formolo | 79 | 69 | 76 |  Martin | 81 | 72 | 77 | Carthy | 79 | 65 | 75 | | Machado | 81 | 71 | 69 | Pantano Gomez | 79 | 54 | 74 |  Haig | 80 | 77 | 75 |  Goos | 77 | 76 | 75 |  Keinath | 79 | 75 | 76 |  Tvetcov | 77 | 74 | 71 |
The race is taylor-made (sorry) for Phinney, who has the edge over all his rivals in the time trials and is unlikely to lose much on the mountains. He is also the only former winner, proving he has what it takes to win in Switzerland.
His main rival is Kritskiy, fresh from a runner-up position in the Vuelta. He might be the better climber, but despite being a very good time trialist, he is not as good Phinney there. With a time trial before the first mountain stage, he'll have to play catch up to the American.
The final spot on the podium is set to be a fight between Cattaneo and Keizer. The Italian is the better climber, the Dutchman the better time trialist. Or perhaps either one of them can surprise the two aforementioned and go for glory.
Quintana is a good climber, but his ability against the clock will let him down for a top position. He finished thirteenth last year, upon which he wishes to improve.
Wildcards Campari and Andorra bring Martin and Machado. The Irishman will probably be seen at the front, while the Portuguese won a stage last year, and finished runner-up overall two years ago.
Other "hybrids" sorta speak are Haig and Keinath, who both know how to climb and how to ride a time trial. Anything but a top ten will be a disappointment, but a top five should be considered a good result for them.
| Time trialists | TT | MO | Sprinters | SP | ACC | | Fiedler | 83 | 60 | Vesely | 81 | 80 |  Zmorka | 82 | 59 | Goss | 81 | 77 |  Vlatos | 81 | 52 | Van Heerden | 81 | 72 | | Würtz | 80 | 65 | Nizzolo | 80 | 79 |  Van Winden | 80 | 53 | Petit | 80 | 78 | | Brändle | 79 | 76 | Serebriakov | 80 | 77 |  Hepburn | 79 | 64 | Scully | 79 | 80 |  Sterbini | 78 | 56 | Lander | 79 | 77 | | Atkins | 78 | 54 | Van der Sanden | 78 | 79 | | Quaade | 78 | 54 | Krasnov | 78 | 77 | | Vangstad | 77 | 72 | Haddi | 77 | 77 | | Hansen | 77 | 59 | Weber | 77 | 77 | | Postlberger | 77 | 58 |  Eislers | 77 | 74 | | Predatsch | 77 | 53 | Speirs | 76 | 80 |
With two flat time trials, it is no surprise many world class time trialist show up. Fiedler, Zmorka and Vlatos are all worthy adversaries to Phinney in that department.
A level below, we have outsiders such as Würtz and Van Winden. Time trials are often dependant on the form of the day, and if they feel good that day then anything is possible.
Special mention for Brändle, who is known to handle mountains decently beside his time trial ability. Who knows, maybe he could be a dark horse for the general classification.
Over to the sprinters, with at least two and perhaps two chances for them. Vesely won the opening stage in 2017 and 2018, will he make it three in a row?
His nearest competitor is Goss, who lacks a bit on acceleration but does have a better leadout train. Van Heerden has even more problems with getting up to speed, and his team should perhaps focus on Serebriakov.
Other contenders are Nizzolo, Petit, Scully and Lander. Sprints are often unpredictable.
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 19-04-2020 21:00
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On paper a good race for Haig, who was rather disappointing in his most recent GT though. He usually performs well in time trials though and given the huge amount of TT kilometers here, I simply need and expect a fight for Top 5 to Top 7 or so. Don't give me another anonymous low Top 10 or high Top 15. That's nothing we need.
As for every race without a top favorite in any profiles, I want my riders to join breakaways as often as possible!
Thanks for the preview.
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| Heine |
Posted on 19-04-2020 21:17
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Hoping for some good results from Fielder, Buchmann and Preidler here, a stage win would be awesome.
Phinney the big favorite in my eyes
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| tastasol |
Posted on 19-04-2020 21:35
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Big race for Phinney and a good test before the Tour. It's a perfect race for him, but having seen Kritskiy in the Vuelta, he needs to be at his best.
A big part of the team that we will take to the Tour as well, so will be interesting to see how it goes in the mountains.
Hoping to see Würtz at his best on the first TT as well. Should be a good chance for him.
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 20-04-2020 02:48
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Looking forward to this, thanks for the preview Marcovdw!
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| roturn |
Posted on 20-04-2020 06:34
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Kind of surprised how high my team ranks here.
Top10 or better in GC very possible and must be the goal. Keinath already showed great form in the Vuelta and is giving once again the chance to lead the team. Obviously with the amount of TT kilometers no use for the other two anyway.
Vesely being top of the list is a bit worrying as this usually means, my team will work a lot and might try a train that sucks then as none of the leadouts is here. So yeah, no expcetations for the sprints really and can only be positively surprised. He better joins other trains really.
Phinney has this already. Pretty sure about this. Kritskiy could come dangerously close if he dominates in the mountains but really doubt it will be enough with 80km flat TT. Keizer vs Cattaneo for the podium? On paper, yes, first at least showed good performances lately while Cattaneo must turn his season around here.
Thanks for the preview and looking forward to the reports. |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 20-04-2020 07:22
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Come on Keizer! Top 5 is the minimum, Top 3 the goal.
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| ember |
Posted on 20-04-2020 07:23
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This race surely favours the TT specialists among the GC riders, judging from how stage races have developed so far this season. Phinney for the win, as those pan-flat TTs must be perfect for him compared to his rivals.
For team, maybe Scully could get lucky and get a podium finish on a flat stage. For the mountains, all I hope for is to see Tvetcov in a breakaway. That would be great if he decides to join the fun and show his NC jersey up front. |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 20-04-2020 08:21
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This is basically our Vuelta breakaway squad plus Formolo and Konrad. The former might be able to GC captain the team, but I would actually prefer us to go on the offensive again.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 20-04-2020 08:33
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The final spot on the podium is set to be a fight between Cattaneo and Keizer.
Considering how Cattaneo performed in the Vuelta, I'll be shocked if he's in the top 10, let alone fighting for the podium... |
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Posted on 06-12-2025 23:14
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 20-04-2020 10:29
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Coming here with quite a good team, with the right legs in the mountains Martin could make some fine stage result. That said the ITT are very long so i doubt a good final GC will be within reach.
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| Bikex |
Posted on 20-04-2020 10:44
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Let's see what Brändle can do, 80 TT km should give him some cushion on some of the better climbers |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 20-04-2020 20:30
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Solid start, and some potenially useful points for the points classification also. Hopefully some more of those tomorrow 
Congrats to Eden on the win!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 20-04-2020 20:57
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Nice win for Gossy. Former Oz riders winning left and right recently. Durbridge, Bennett, Goss.. I'm not surprised though, just saying 
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| SotD |
Posted on 20-04-2020 22:01
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Obviously Phinney-teritory here, but I hope to get some decent output from Vlatos aswell as he kinda need to show himself.
A decent couple of sprints and some breakaways are the best I can get here without a GC rider. It will be fun to see what Cataldo and Vuillermoz can do here on their own though. I'm guessing nothing, but you'll never know.
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| SotD |
Posted on 20-04-2020 22:04
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Didn't see the first stage was already run. So much for hoping for Vlatos... He's pathetic really in this version.
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 21-04-2020 04:31
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Best result for Serebriakov this season, two more chances if he can survive the mountains (although stage 4 seems to have a uphill finish).
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| ember |
Posted on 21-04-2020 07:10
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Good sprint by Scully! Fifth place is nice from him. Seeing the riders in front of him, he might be able to do even better as the race progresses. Congratulations on the win, Eden!
Kritskiy and Phinney look to already be at it, getting on the table regarding the points jersey. Will be a couple of interesting days now. Having seen how the Vuelta unfolded, Phinney must be the big favourite, as I doubt Kritskiy will be able to put much time into him in the mountains, but we shall see  |
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 21-04-2020 07:59
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Haha none of our riders can sprint but definitely funny to see them try en masse. 8th, 11th, 12th is actually surprisingly good.
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| roturn |
Posted on 21-04-2020 10:24
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Pretty solid stage 1 here. The teams chasing also up there in the mix in the end and despite an early sprint position fight for the win.
Obviously quite chaotic with the break being caught late but I take 2nd obviously with Vesely. Nothing bad being beaten by Goss here.
Congrats to Indosat and thanks for the report. |
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