Canadians prominent in Tour de Suisse’s first road stage
Dal-Cin and Zukowsky or Rally Cycling make up half of the breakaway
Michael Woods, one of three Canadians prominent in Monday’s first road stage of the Tour de Suisse, finished seventh place to Matthieu van der Poel after following attacks on the final climb. Nick Zukowsky and Matteo Dal-Cin made up half the numbers of the eight-stage race’s first breakaway. Stefan Küng, winner of the opening day’s time trial, clung tenaciously to his leader’s jersey by one second over an active Julian Alaphilippe.
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The Course
Monday’s route headed into some proper mountains, with three Cat. 2 climbs in the second half of 178 km and plenty of lumps along the way. The final climb, Litschstrasse, peaked 8 km from the finish in Lachen.
It's a hilly day at the #TourdeSuisse, from Neuhausen am Rheinfall to Lachen, over 178 kilometers.
The final climb is tackled with ten kilometers to go and could play an important role in today's outcome. pic.twitter.com/UAKzZViRuy
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) June 7, 2021
Zukowsky and Dal-Cin skipped away with two Swiss riders, one from Cofidis and the other representing the national team. It was a tantalizing contest to claim the first mountains points at the very least. The last Canadian to win a stage of the Tour de Suisse was Steve Bauer in 1988.
The first Cat. 2 was 8 km Ghöch. The Canadian-Swiss foursome hit its foot with a 5:15 gap on the Groupama-FDJ-driven peloton. Zukowsky attacked near the crest and took the maximum points. Rain pelted the descent.
Just when anticipation was growing for the next climb, Zukowsky fell back massaging his left hamstring, but he managed to make it back to the front.
On the Oberricken, Zukowsky was second over and therefore tied on points with Tom Bohli of Cofidis, who would wear the mountains jersey at the end of the day. Bohli bounced away solo and eventually the other Swiss joined him. The Canadians were 30 seconds behind and soon faded back to the peloton.
Deceuninck-Quick Step broke up the peloton on the descent of the Oberricken before BikeExchange and Alpecin-Fenix grabbed the reins on the way to Litschstrasse.
With the last fugitive 18-seconds up the road, Alaphillipe put in a surge. After a brief lull when Woods followed the pace of Eddy Dunbar, Alaphilippe went again. This split the peloton, with van der Poel in the second group. However, going over the top, Richard Carapaz, Alaphilippe, Woods, and van der Poel were in included in the same leading octet.
The eight riders stayed away from the Küng chase group. Van der Poel did a flyer with 3.6 km to race. Max Schachmann found his wheel after a kilometre and a half. With another rider closing in inside the final kilometre the Dutchman dispatched the German for the victory and fourth place on the GC.
With seventh place Woods jumped 102 spots to 26th.
Tuesday is another jagged affair.
2021 Tour de Suisse Stage 2
1) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) 4:12:30
2) Max Schachmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:01
3) Wout Poels (The Netherlands/Bahrain-Victorious) +0:04
7) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) s.t.
2021 Tour de Suisse GC
1) Stefan Küng (Switzerland/Groupama-FDJ) 4:24:52
2) Julian Alaphilippe (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +0:01
3) Max Schachmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:02
26) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +1:01
