Tour de Suisse 2018 Route stage 6: Fiesch – Gommiswald

Thursday, 14 June 2018 - At 186 kilometres, the 6th stage of the Tour de Suisse takes in an altitude gain of 3,328 metres. The race goes from Fiesch to Gommiswald and travels over two huge passes, Furka and Klausen, before it concludes with a punchy finale with ramps up to 18%.

On rolling terrain the first 21.8 kilometres run to the base of the Furka pass. The 16.5 kilometres climb is averaging 6.3%. The Aston DB5-Ford Mustang car chase in James Bond's Goldfinger was shot at these very slopes. The Furka peaks at 2,429 metres and the last time the pass was included in the Tour de Suisse was in 2016. It was the first climb in a stage that was won by Darwin Atapuma.

Following a long descent the riders reach the Klausen pass after almost 100 kilometres. This pass was included in the 2016 Tour de Suisse, albeit in another stage. The Klausen was crested with 60 kilometres to go and eventually Pieter Weening took the win.

Klausen pass is really a climb with two faces. The first 11.6 kilometres are characterized by a 4.8% gradient and following a 900 metres plateau the climb continues for 12.5 kilometres at 7.2%. On the top, there are almost 70 kilometres left to race.

Firstly, 22 kilometres on descent and then 45 kilometres on the flat. Just when you might think the slopes are history a punchy finale appears. With 4 kilometres remaining the riders hit a 2.5 kilometres climb at 5.2%. But this statistic is biased as the hill is extremely irregular. An 8% stretch continues onto a short drop before the road climbs 700 metres at 8% before it kicks up to 12% in the last 400 metres. A short false flat leads to the final flat of 1500 metres.

The first three riders on the line win time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while two intermediate sprints (at kilometre 156.5 and at kilometre 179.3) come with 3, 2 and 1 seconds each.