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2017 Tour de Suisse Stage 7: Simon Špilak wins on summit finish, takes over lead

Overnight leader Pozzovivo suffers on formidable Tiefenbach Glacier climb

June 16, 2017
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He’s not a fashionable stage racer, but Katusha’s Slovenian Simon Špilak has won the 2010 Tour de Romandie and the 2015 Tour de Suisse, and on Friday he took a big step to taking his second Suisse crown by winning atop a summit finish on the Tiefenbach Glacier to snatch the lead from Domenico Pozzovivo. Špilak leads by nearly a minute.
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Friday would be a huge stage for the GC. Nine riders were within 1:42. For seven of them, the 2017 Tour de Suisse would be the greatest stage race victory of their careers. Almost 100-km of gradual descent would lead to 30-km of gradual ascent and then the big climb into Austria.


The climb to Tiefenbachferner ended in a 1.7-km tunnel.


A platoon of fugitives shuffled off in the opening kilometres, and among the 18 was Peter Sagan. Due to the steeper part of the 100-km descent at its start, the race covered 52-km in the first hour.


After Sagan took the intermediate sprint in Unterlängenfeld, Matteo Trentin (Italy/Quick Step) dashed away from his breakmates. When he was corralled, more attacks flared. Meanwhile, CCC pulled the peloton closer.

As soon as the big climb began, the break was caught and dispatched. Bahrain-Merida and then Katusha led the way. Fifth place Mathias Frank lost contact first. Soon after, Frank’s teammate and race leader Pozzovivo trickled off the back. One by one they fell away.

All that was left was CCC’s Jan Hirt, Damiano Caruso, Kutusha pair Špilak and Rein Taaramäe, Jon Izagirre Steven Kruijswijk, Mark Soler and Joe Dombrowski. Taaramäe’s torrid pace whittled this squad down to his teammate and Cannondale’s Dombrowski with 10-km still to climb.

Rein Taaramäe’s pace for teammate Spilak decimated the numbers.

With 8-km to go, Špilak, the 2015 champ, flew solo.


At the 5-km remaining mark, the Slovenian was 35-seconds ahead of dogged pursuer Dombrowski and 1:10 on Caruso, Kruijswijk, Izagirre and Hirt. Špilak entered the tunnel with a 40-second gap. Izagirre joined Dombrowski as the closest chasers.

Katusha’s man held tough, winning his first stage since 2014’s Arctic Race of Norway, 22-seconds over Izagirre. Pozzovivo finished 2:39 down. The only riders who seem capable of overtaking Špilak are Caruso and Kruijswijk.

Saturday is an eight-lap circuit race around Schaffhausen, each lap containing a steep Cat. 3 climb.


2017 Tour de Suisse Stage 7
1) Simon Špilak (Slovenia/Katusha) 3:58:36
2) Jon Izagirre (Spain/Bahrain-Merida) +0:22
3) Joe Dombrowski (USA/Cannondale) +0:36


2017 Tour de Suisse GC
1) Simon Špilak (Slovenia/Katusha) 26:02:16
2) Damiano Caruso (Italy/BMC) +0:52
3) Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo) +1:05