Tour de Suisse (st. 7)

Basque youngster from Movistar Team eighth in Tour de Suisse's long TT, now 5th overall just 28" off GC podium

In the second big test of the 2014 Tour de Suisse for Ion Izagirre, after another time trial -the one in Bellinzona, lumpier yet much shorter- held last Saturday, the Basque rider from the Movistar Team did not disappoint and offered his best into 24.5km full of ups and downs, in and around Worb. Intermediate references by Alex Dowsett -provisionally 3rd across the finish-, Capecchi and Javi Moreno helped the Ormaiztegi-based rider take on the TT in good spirits, starting strong into the hillier part to clock the 4th quickest time in the 1st intermediate. There, he was ahead of Fabian Cancellara (TFR), and just 5″ off the pace by his most comparable rival, Rui Costa (LAM).

From that point on, the weight disadvantage against Ion made him trail against his rivals, yet Izagirre fought well to limit losses and finished in 8th spot, 1’06” behind race leader Tony Martin (OPQ) and now only behind Dumoulin (GIA), Frank (IAM) and Costa, fifth in the GC before two mountain-top finishes suiting him and set to decide a race favourable to rouleurs up to date. Saturday will see the riders tackle a 219km trek up the ski resort of Verbier (HC), yet with mainly flat roads before the last 25k.