A demanding penultimate day in the mountains.
Saturday brought the fourth and final summit finish of this year. On the menu, three classified climbs, a vertical gain of 3000 meters and around 120 kilometers – enough to make an important selection long before the final climb of the day, Villars-sur-Olon. The breakaway, despite being a strong one on paper, stood no chance against the peloton, where the GC favourites were keen on fighting for victory.
With the last member of the front group reeled in four kilometers from the finish, attacks between the general classification contenders began soon, but it was only in the last kilometer that the winner emerged, yellow jersey Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) being the one who prevailed.
William Junior Lecerf did another good effort on the ascent, and his strong outing helped the 21-year-old Belgian make a gain of two places in the overall standings. Soudal Quick-Step’s neo-pro – who won a stage at the Tour du Rwanda earlier this season – can make his way into the top 20 on Sunday, when the Tour de Suisse schedules a 15.7km uphill individual time trial.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
