Tour de Suisse 2016: Favourites
The Tour de Suisse is played out shorty before the Tour de France and as such it is a last test case for a lot of riders before July's showdown. Last year saw Simon Spilak best Geraint Thomas in a spectacular climax - is the Welshman poised to take revenge? Other contenders are triple winner Rui Costa, Tejay van Garderen, and the Dutchman Wilco Kelderman. Cyclingstage.com brings you the favourites for the overall win in the 2016 Tour de Suisse.
Underneath text was writte prior to the start of the Tour de Suisse and hasn’t been updated.]
The 2016 Tour de Suisse is a mountainous endeavour with hardly any flat roads. So in order to win you have to be a good climber, that’s one thing, and besides you have to be able to stand the pressure of time in a chrono race. Except for a short opening time trial, the race features hilly time trial on the penultimate day. Which is good news for the likes of Geraint Thomas, Tejay van Garderen and Wilco Kelderman.
From stage 5 onwards the GC will be shaken up as we will be penetrating mountain goats territory. Stages 5. 6 and 7 are all mountain stages with the last one, the Queen Stage to the Rettechbachferner, a glacier high up in the mountains above Sölden, the apotheosis. The closing climg is a 11.4 kilometres toil at 10.8%. Then comes the previously mentioned hilly ITT (at 16.8 kilometres) before the 9-day race is to be concluded with a mountainous stage that ends with a long descent. All in all, a versatile race that should bring a versatile winner.
Contenders who know what’s it like to win the Tour de Suisse are Fabian Cancellara (2009), Fränk Schleck (2010), Rui Costa (2012, 2013, 2014) and Simon Spilak (2015), while Geraint Thomas is the only rider at the start who did win a multiple stage race this season. Last March he took Paris-Nice after a brilliant battle with Alberto Contador.
Favourites Tour de Suisse 2016:
*** Geraint Thomas, Rui Costa, Wilco Kelderman, Tejay van Garderen
** Robert Gesink, Warren Barguil, Gorka Izagirre
* Andrew Talansky, Mathias Frank, Samuel Sánchez, Ion Izagirre
Tour de Suisse Route
Tour de Suisse Riders
Watch the highlights of recent races here:
Related articles Stage 9: Colombian party - Pantano stage win, López takes the overall - Tour de Suisse 2016 Stage 8: Ion Izagirre wins ITT, Ángel López new leader - Tour de Suisse 2016 Stage 7: Van Garderen wins Queen Stage, Barguil new leader - Tour de Suisse 2016 Stage 6: Weening solos to victory in horrible weather, Kelderman new leader - Tour de Suisse 2016 Stage 5: Atapuma climbs to victory, Latour new leader - Tour de Suisse 2016 Stage 4: Richeze sprints to victory, Sagan retains in overall lead - Tour de Suisse 2016 Stage 3: Stage win and leader's jersey Sagan after show of strength - Tour de Suisse 2016 Stage 2: Sagan outsprints Richeze, Roelandts takes leader's jersey - Tour de Suisse 2016 Stage 1: Cancellara wins ITT and takes leader's jersey - Tour de Suisse 2016 Route stage 1: ITT in Baar - Tour de Suisse 2016 Route stage 2: Baar - Baar - Tour de Suisse 2016 Route stage 3: Grosswangen – Rheinfelden - Tour de Suisse 2016 Route stage 4: Rheinfelden – Champagne - Tour de Suisse 2016 Route stage 5: Brig-Glis – Carì - Tour de Suisse 2016 Route stage 6: Weesen – Amden - Tour de Suisse 2016 Route stage 7: Arbon – Rettenbachferner/Sölden - Tour de Suisse 2016 Route stage 8: Davos - Davos - Tour de Suisse 2016 More articles Tour de France 2022: Sprint triumph Groenewegen, Van Aert keeps yellow
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