It was heartbreak for the early breakaway on stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse, with three riders who spent more than 180km off the front being caught in the final kilometre by the sprint teams, with Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) powering to the victory in Neuhausen am Rheinfall.
Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) made up the break that almost made it, with the Swiss champion Schmid the last man standing after a valiant effort by the trio to try to stay ahead.
Once caught, Lotto looked to have set things up nicely for Arnaud De Lie, but as the final corner and last 300 metres to the line approached, Danny van Poppel moved up Meeus at just the right moment, before leading him out perfectly to finish the job.
Behind the Belgian, Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) took second after teammate Alberto Bettiol committed a lot to chasing down the breakaway, with young Brit Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) taking third.
Yellow jersey Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) finished safely in the main peloton to maintain his overall lead on GC.
"It was definitely a hard week for me so far, not really my most favourite terrain with all the hills and climbs. I was pretty disappointed on stage 2 because that was also supposed to be a flat stage, but my legs didn't feel great at the beginning of the week," said Meeus.
"During the days, they felt better and better, so I felt straight away that I had good legs today, and I'm really happy to finish it off.
"It's hard to compare," to his Tour de France stage win on the Champs-Élysées, "but this is just my second win on the WorldTour level, so I'm super happy to take the win home today."
How it unfolded
With two mountain days in the legs at the Tour de Suisse, stage 6 offered another chance for the breakaway specialists and fast men, on the 186.7km road from Chur to Neuhausen am Rheinfall, near the German border.
Four riders got up the road in the opening 6km of racing: Harry Sweeny, Stefan Küng, Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Mauro Schmid. They led the race through a brief journey into Liechtenstein.
They quickly had more than a minute advantage, but more attacks came from the likes of Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Tom Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike).
None could bridge the gap, however, and at the 140km to go mark, the quartet in front had more than three minutes of an advantage over the chasing peloton.
The only two categorised climbs of the day followed soon after the break formation, with the first to Wildhaus (9km at 6.8%) seeing Arnaud De Lie dropped and several others dropped off the back. They soon returned, but with the climb to Hemberg (6.2km at 5.7%) still to come.
Mohorič took his chance to attack away again, joined this time by teammate Pello Bilbao and Ewan Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), but they made no real dent into the lead of the four men in front, with the catch match to them around 30km later.
With 80km to race, and the parcours in the second half of the stage being easier than the opening half, the sprint teams started to come to the fore, with Lotto, Picnic PostNL and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe working for De Lie, Pavel Bittner and Jordi Meeus, respectively.
The gap was reduced quickly to 1:18, but Grégoire then stabilised things and sacrificed himself on the front for Küng, to give his teammate and the other two survivors of the early break a chance at the win. With 43km to go, the gap extended back out to 1:28.
Into the final 30km of action, and the deficit for the peloton finally fell below one minute, with the trio in front more than capable of holding their own in a time trial, but starting to falter under the pressure applied by the sprint teams.
Alpecin-Deceuninck joined the chasing effort, alongside Lotto, Red Bull, Picnic, and Tudor, helping reduce the gap further on the approach to Neuhausen am Rheinfall.
The peloton had the trio in its sights with 15km to go, with the gap at 26 seconds, but the sprint teams had to commit a lot of firepower to try and wrestle back the final bit of the lead, with some hope yet for the early break.
Küng, Schmid and Sweeny continued to work well together, holding a 20-second lead into the final 10km, as the trains behind continued to lose riders, but they were struggling to hold the high pace after almost 180km out in front.
Crossing over the Rhine and into Schaffhausen allowed the trio to maintain their lead, but with 4km to go, it was only at 12 seconds, and it looked more and more like heartbreak was imminent for those in front.
The catch was finally made just before the final kilometre to Küng and Sweeny by Tudor, after XDS Astana put in a big pull to bring them back. Schmid then gave one final push to try and snatch it, but the sprinting peloton was in full flow and quickly had him back in too.
With the sprint now certain, Lotto tried to bring Belgian champion De Lie into the ideal position, which they did have momentarily, until Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe screamed up the left-hand side before the final bend to the line, washing out the Lotto sprinter and several others.
Meeus had the momentum from Van Poppel's top lead-out, holding his top speed all the way to the line ahead of Ballerini and Askey in Neuhausen am Rheinfall.
Results
Pos. |
Rider (Team) |
Time |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) |
04:10:24 |
2 |
Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana Team) |
|
3 |
Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) |
|
4 |
Madis Mihkels (EF Education - EasyPost) |
|
5 |
Nicolo Buratti (Bahrain Victorious) |
|
6 |
Danny Van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) |
|
7 |
Pavel Bittner (Team Picnic PostNL) |
|
8 |
Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) |
|
9 |
Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) |
|
10 |
Stefano Oldani (Cofidis) |
|
11 |
Fabio Van Den Bossche (Alpecin-Deceuninck) |
|
12 |
Fabio Christen (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) |
|
13 |
Peter Joseph Blackmore (Israel - Premier Tech) |
|
14 |
Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers) |
|
15 |
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) |
|
16 |
Hugo Houle (Israel - Premier Tech) |
|
17 |
Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) |
|
18 |
Pieter Serry (Soudal Quick-Step) |
|
19 |
Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) |
|
20 |
Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché - Wanty) |
|
21 |
Antonio Tomas Morgado (UAE Team Emirates XRG) |
|
22 |
Lennard Kamna (Lidl-Trek) |
|
23 |
Matthew Riccitello (Israel - Premier Tech) |
|
24 |
Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Deceuninck) |
|
25 |
Bob Jungels (INEOS Grenadiers) |
|
26 |
Gianluca Brambilla (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) |
|
27 |
Felix Grossschartner (UAE Team Emirates XRG) |
|
28 |
Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) |
|
29 |
Ion Izaguirre Insausti (Cofidis) |
|
30 |
William Barta (Movistar Team) |
|
31 |
Ben Alexander O'Connor (Team Jayco Alula) |
|
32 |
Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché - Wanty) |
|
33 |
Joao Pedro Goncalves Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) |
|
34 |
Pablo Castrillo Zapater (Movistar Team) |
|
35 |
Victor Langellotti (INEOS Grenadiers) |
|
36 |
Edgar Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) |
|
37 |
Julien Vermote (Team Visma - Lease a Bike) |
|
38 |
Eduardo Sepulveda (Lotto) |
|
39 |
George Bennett (Israel - Premier Tech) |
|
40 |
Lucas Wade Hamilton (INEOS Grenadiers) |
|
41 |
Sam Maisonobe (Cofidis) |
|
42 |
Jasper De Buyst (Lotto) |
|
43 |
Clement Champoussin (XDS Astana Team) |
|
44 |
Tijmen Graat (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) |
|
45 |
Anthon Charmig (XDS Astana Team) |
|
46 |
Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) |
|
47 |
Jasha Sutterlin (Team Jayco Alula) |
|
48 |
Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) |
|
49 |
Sean Flynn (Team Picnic PostNL) |
|
50 |
Warren Barguil (Team Picnic PostNL) |
|
51 |
Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Deceuninck) |
|
52 |
Nicola Conci (XDS Astana Team) |
|
53 |
Rui Costa (EF Education - EasyPost) |
|
54 |
Julius Johansen (UAE Team Emirates XRG) |
|
55 |
Xavier Finlay Xavier Pickering (Bahrain Victorious) |
|
56 |
Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) |
|
57 |
Simone Petilli (Intermarché - Wanty) |
|
58 |
Sergio Samitier Samitier (Cofidis) |
|
59 |
Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education - EasyPost) |
00:17 |
60 |
Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step) |
|
61 |
Mathijs Paasschens (Bahrain Victorious) |
|
62 |
Ewen Costiou (Arkea-B&B Hotels) |
|
63 |
Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) |
|
64 |
Nans Peters (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) |
|
65 |
Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) |
|
66 |
Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) |
|
67 |
Brent Van Moer (Lotto) |
00:28 |
68 |
Nelson F. Dos Santos Simoes Oliveira (Movistar Team) |
|
69 |
Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco Alula) |
|
70 |
Fausto Masnada (XDS Astana Team) |
00:36 |
71 |
Jan Maas (Cofidis) |
|
72 |
Antoine Huby (Soudal Quick-Step) |
|
73 |
Bart Lemmen (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) |
|
74 |
Andrew August (INEOS Grenadiers) |
|
75 |
Otto Vergaerde (Lidl-Trek) |
|
76 |
Matteo Badilatti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) |
|
77 |
Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) |
|
78 |
Albert Torres Barceló (Movistar Team) |
|
79 |
Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek) |
|
80 |
Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) |
|
81 |
Thomas Gloag (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) |
|
82 |
Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates XRG) |
|
83 |
Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step) |
|
84 |
Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe) |
|
85 |
Ayco Bastiaens (Soudal Quick-Step) |
|
86 |
Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) |
|
87 |
Chris Froome (Israel - Premier Tech) |
|
88 |
Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) |
|
89 |
Marco Haller (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) |
|
90 |
Neilson Powless (EF Education - EasyPost) |
|
91 |
Tim Naberman (Team Picnic PostNL) |
00:49 |
92 |
Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team) |
00:53 |
93 |
Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe) |
|
94 |
Roger Adria Oliveras (Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe) |
|
95 |
Callum Scotson (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) |
|
96 |
Luc Wirtgen (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) |
|
97 |
Lawrence Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) |
|
98 |
Felix Engelhardt (Team Jayco Alula) |
|
99 |
Luke Durbridge (Team Jayco Alula) |
|
100 |
Patrick Gamper (Team Jayco Alula) |
|
101 |
Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain Victorious) |
|
102 |
Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) |
|
103 |
Javier Romo Oliver (Movistar Team) |
|
104 |
Juan Pedro Lopez Perez (Lidl-Trek) |
|
105 |
Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) |
01:18 |
106 |
Eddy Le Huitouze (Groupama-FDJ) |
|
107 |
Harrison William Sweeny (EF Education - EasyPost) |
|
108 |
Samuele Battistella (EF Education - EasyPost) |
|
109 |
Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Deceuninck) |
01:40 |
110 |
Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis) |
01:47 |
111 |
Sjoerd Bax (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) |
01:56 |
112 |
Steven Kruijswijk (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) |
|
113 |
Arjen Livyns (Lotto) |
02:07 |
114 |
Alexander Kamp (Intermarché - Wanty) |
|
115 |
Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-B&B Hotels) |
|
116 |
David Gonzalez Lopez (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) |
02:33 |
117 |
Mikkel Norsgaard Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates XRG) |
|
118 |
Gregaard Jonas Wilsly (Lotto) |
|
119 |
Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana Team) |
02:46 |
120 |
Alexander Edmondson (Team Picnic PostNL) |
|
121 |
Simon James Clarke (Israel - Premier Tech) |
02:58 |
122 |
Marcel Camprubi Pijuan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) |
03:04 |
123 |
Frank Van Den Broek (Team Picnic PostNL) |
04:15 |
124 |
Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) |
04:21 |
125 |
Tiesj Benoot (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) |
|
126 |
Sebastien Grignard (Lotto) |
|
127 |
Henri Uhlig (Alpecin-Deceuninck) |
06:29 |
128 |
Jonas Koch (Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe) |
|
129 |
Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) |
|
130 |
Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ) |
|
131 |
Max Walker (EF Education - EasyPost) |
|
132 |
Martin Tjotta (Arkea-B&B Hotels) |
|
133 |
Pello Bilbao Lopez De Armentia (Bahrain Victorious) |
09:01 |
134 |
Gerben Kuypers (Intermarché - Wanty) |
09:08 |
