Quintana chases strong Porte in Gommiswald
14 June 2018

Tour de Suisse (st. 6)

Colombian from Movistar Team pushes until cracking to bring back GC leader, gaining another 12". Nairo remains 6th overall, with Landa 10th; Amador affected by stomach problems.

An 18-rider breakaway started before the tough passes of Furka and Klausen (HC), key points of stage six in the Tour de Suisse from Fiesch to Gommiswald (186km), allowed Soren Kragh Andersen (SUN) claiming a coveted victory ahead of the GC contenders, which didn’t try any moves until the final, two-kilometer Cat-3 ascent.

Nairo Quintana, helped out in the run-in towards the uphill finish by the ever-dependant Daniele Bennati, tried to pick up the pace into the ascent but found a strong response from race leader Richie Porte (BMC). The Aussie left all favourites behind including Quintana, who had to slow down and breathe so as not to lose sight of the main field.

12″ were the gap opened by Porte over a 20-rider echelon including Quintana and Mikel Landa, but not Andrey Amador -45″ behind that group-. The Costa Rican, struck by stomach problems during the stage, is out of the top places in the GC, with Nairo still in 6th spot (+45″) and Mikel in 10th (+59″) before Friday’s final mountain route to Arosa (170km).

Another negative note from the day came with José Joaquín Rojas’s crash into the descent of the Klausenpass. Scratches all over his right-hand side didn’t prevent the Spaniard from getting to the finish.