Michael Woods wins Tour de Suisse mountains classification on final stage
Canadian comes second on stage where Carapaz wraps up title
Michael Woods might have lost a two-up sprint with Gino Mäder for Sunday’s Tour de Suisse stage honours, but he took the mountains classification on the final day. Gino Mäder, who won a stage of the Giro d’Italia in May, beat Woods to the line in Andematt. Rigoberto Uran couldn’t budge Richard Carapaz from the top of the GC and the Ecuadorian gave Ineos Grenadiers four straight WorldTour stage race wins, all via different riders.
The Course
Three mountains awaited the riders. Two Cat. 1 climbs were placed in the first half of 160 km, and the HC-rated Gotthardpass crested 18 km from the finish line in Andermatt. There were cobbles on the Gotthardpass.
#TourdeSuisse concludes in style today, with a short but gruelling 118.4km mountain stage around Andermatt.
On the menu:
Oberalpass (10.8km, 5.5%)
Lukmanierpass (16.5km, 5.3%)
Gotthardpass (13km, 6.8%) pic.twitter.com/a2Jf1zqVsg— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) June 13, 2021
Third place Julian Alaphilippe did not start to be present at the birth of his child. Woods moved up to fifth on GC, and Max Schachmann was back on the podium, with Jakob Fuglsang only 8 seconds in arrears. Woods was over two minutes adrift of the podium, and three riders behind him were within 33 seconds of his GC spot.
.@alafpolak1 will not start Sunday’s #TourdeSuisse stage 8, as he will travel home to be with his partner, who is due to give birth to the couple’s first child.
Photo: @GettySport pic.twitter.com/x6T0JLiqCy— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) June 12, 2021
The King of the Mountains competition was wide open. Antonio Nibali (Italy/Trek-Segafredo) was in the leader’s jersey and he got involved with the skirmish on the first Cat. 1, Oberalppass. Wout Poels was first to tip over, but Nibali was fourth. One fly in the ointment was Movistar’s Sergio Samitier, second on Oberalppass and now one point behind Nibali. David de la Cruz was two points behind.
Nibali, Samitier and de la Cruz were part of the breakaway that descended the Oberalppass, but the trio bridged over on the next Cat. 1, Lukmanierpass. De la Cruz was second to Poels at the peak and took over the lead from Nibali. The points were now de la Cruz 29, Samitier 29, Nibali 28 and Poels, who had no points at the beginning of the day, 24.
It was a long descent into the valley and a long, gradual climb before the HC Gotthardpass. Would the breakaway survive to set up the final KOM showdown? The four principals in the competition were part of a 15-strong group that laboured to pull out a bigger gap over the peloton before the last climb.
It didn’t seem likely for the fugitives. Woods’ Israel Start-up Nation, Domenico Pozzovivo’s Qhubeka-Assos and Sam Oomen’s Jumbo-Visma took turns driving the field.
The breakaway began to fragment, and a quartet pushed ahead. None of the KOM battlers made the selection.
Gotthardpass
There was a quintet left up front when the Tour de Suisse’s final mountain began and its gap was wee. Ineos led the peloton and the last escapee capitulated with 18 km to ride. The GC men finally started to get involved.
Uran attacked with 17.5 km to go. Carapaz matched it and Woods had the Ecuadorian’s wheel. When Uran pulled up Woods carried on the attack. Tenth place Mattia Cattanio came over to Woods.
Behind, Uran surged again and once more Carapaz covered. The pace dislodged Schachmann. Woods took the maximum KOM points, tying de la Cruz and Samitier with 29, but he would claim the jersey at the end of the day. But could he also take the day’s flowers?
Gino Mäder made it over to Woods on the descent. With 2 km to go it was clear that it would come down to a two-up sprint. The duo started cat and mouse games at the red kite. Woods led out and could not prevent Mäder from becoming the third Swiss rider to claim stages in the 84th edition.
The Tour de France begins in Brest in 13 days.
2021 Tour de Suisse Stage 8
1) Gino Mäder (Switzerland/Bahrain-Victorious) 4:06:25
2) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) s.t.
3) Mattia Cattanio (Italy/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +0:09
2021 Tour de Suisse Final GC
1) Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/Ineos Grenadiers) 24:44:01
2) Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/EF Education-Nippo) +0:17
3) Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark/Astana-Premier Tech) +1:15
3) Max Schachmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:19
5) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +1:32
6) Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy/Qhubeka-Assos) +2:55
7) Rui Costa (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +3:37
8) Sam Oomen (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) +4:16
9) Mattia Cattanio (Italy/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +4:39
10) Esteban Chaves (Colombia/BikeExchange) +5:33
