On a day in which the break made it all the way to the finish, our rider won the sprint of the peloton.
The weather isn't friendly with the riders at this year's edition of the Tour de Suisse, as rain and low temperatures accompanied the bunch from the start of day three, which brought the race from Grosswangen to Rheinfelden, a town that was hosting a stage finish for the first time in 12 years. Back then, at the previous visit, it was a sprinters' affair, and many were hoping for a similar outcome on Monday, but things took a different turn this time, the win coming from a reduced group which managed to stay at the front, helped also by the slippery roads which slowed down the peloton led by Etixx – Quick-Step and Giant-Alpecin.
Eight riders were part of the break on Monday, but only two of them – Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) and Silvan Dillier (BMC) – were still up the road inside the final 15 kilometers. On the last climb, as the peloton split, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) attacked and bridged across, and the three opened a 20-second advantage which in the end proved to be enough to let them fight for victory, which went into the Slovak's account, who now leads the overall classification.
This wild and wet stage saw the chasers arrive three seconds later, in part thanks to the big effort of the Czech duo of Zdenek Stybar and Petr Vakoč, and on the uphill drag to the line Maximiliano Richeze was the fastest from that group and sloted into fourth place, amassing another result that proves his strong condition, which saw the Argentinian get three podiums and five top 10 placings in the past six weeks.
On Tuesday, the sprinters will have their last opportunity to come into the limelight, on a stage which will take them from Rheinfelden to Champagne, over nearly 200 kilometers.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele
