No easy days in Switzerland
12 June 2016

Tour de Suisse (st. 2) / Dauphiné (finale)

Rain, crashes and nerves force Izagirre brothers to keep full focus; Ion 6th, Gorka 10th overall after second day in and around Baar. Roelandts (LTS) takes yellow after split in final sprint, where Sagan (TNK) prevails

What seemingly was a day to take things easier in the Tour de Suisse -the roads before the Cat-2 sign on top of the Allenwinden climb, overcome four times into the 189km loop around Baar, being gentler than expected- became really demanding as a result of the intense rain at places of the day's route. Having Juanjo Lobato still getting into race form after a long, successful first part of his season, the Movistar Team focused on protecting its two main GC references, brothers Ion and Gorka Izagirre, to reach the finish safe and sound.

The work by Alex Dowsett, Jorge Arcas, Winner Anacona and Jasha Sütterlin was efficient enough to make sure that both Basque riders crossed the line into the main field, 3" behind a short front split formed into the bunch sprint -won by Peter Sagan (TNK)-. Belgian Jürgen Roelandts (LTS) profited from the cut to take the yellow jersey off Cancellara's (TFS) hands, with Ion now sixth at 10" and Gorka in 10th, at 14". Sunday marked the first of three predictable, consecutive sprint finishes, though Monday's final loop around Rheinfelden (192.6km) could see the GC contenders respond over the slopes of Sonnenberg and Schönberg (both Cat-3).

Dauphiné comes to a close; Blues leave with one stage win

The final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné -151km between Le-Pont-de-Claix and Superdévoluy- came down to a superb solo win by Stephen Cummings (DDD), with overall honours going to Chris Froome (SKY), yellow jersey holder from Vaujany's summit on Friday, for the third time in his career. The Movistar Team closed the sixteenth race of the 2016 UCI WorldTour calendar with one stage win, Tuesday's by Jesús Herrada in Chalmazel, and some good battle from his team-mates to make the early breaks on every mountain day. Into this final trek, it was turn for Nelson Oliveira.

The Portuguese allrounder was part of the initialy, 20-man move created after the descent of the Terrasses climb (Cat-2). Marc Soler was also close to enter that big front group, yet the presence by Rolland (CPT) into his counterattack made SKY uncomfortable, the black and blue train chasing them down immediately. Over at Moissière (Cat-1), the still-reigning Portuguese TT champion lost contact with his group, as Marc and Dani Moreno were subsequently dropped into the Col du Noyer (Cat-1). Dayer, the Blues' best performer today, and Dani both finished in the top-30 overall.

Results: Tour de Suisse | Critérium du Dauphiné