Tour de Suisse 2018: The Route

The 2018 edition of the Tour de Suisse started on the 9th of June with a team time trial in Frauenfeld, while the nine-day stage-race is set to finish with an individual time trial in Bellinzona. The Queen Stage takes in both the Furka Pass and Klausen Pass, while the Arosa-stage on the seventh day of action is supposedly the hardest course.

The first two days of action are in the Frauenfeld hub. The Tour de Suisse sets off with an 18 kilometres team time trial on an undulating route. The 2nd stage is a hilly circuit race in the capital of the canton of Thurgau, which lies close to the German border in the north of the country.

The 3rd stage is yet another hilly race with its last climb 5.5 kilometres before the line. Stage 4 is not flat either. Following a contest with 2,180 vertical metres the finale is a 10 kilometres drop down the Saanenmöser Pass.

Mountain goats are about to be fed now, as the route of stage 5 takes in the intermediate climbs up Col du Pillon and to ski resort (Crans)-Montana before a final haul up to the line in Leukerbad. The 6th stage is another chance for climbers as it features the most vertical metres in this year's Tour de Suisse - namely 3,328. The route climbs the Furka Pass and Klausen Pass to finish with punchy finale in Gommiswald.

Climbers who are eyeing up the GC should be wide awake in stage 7 as this is the last mountain stage. Following a rolling start through green hills the route grows more mountainous along the way to finish with a 29 kilometres climb to Arosa. Just before the top the slope is averaging 10% for 3 kilometres.

After the starting hub in Frauenfeld the finishing hub is in Bellinzona. The beautiful town is surrounded by Alps, yet the 8th stage's circuit race contains six laps on a largely flat route before the Tour de Suisse ends with an individual time trial of 34 kilometres. Once again, not mountainous at all - the last stage takes in merely 279 vertical metres.