Tour de Suisse 2021: Van der Poel powers to second consecutive win and race lead

image: Cor VosMathieu van der Poel powers to his second consecutive stage win on the false flat home straight of the 3rd stage. He also moves into the overall race lead at the Tour de Suisse, 1 second ahead of Julian Alaphilippe with overnight race leader Stefan Küng 4 seconds behind. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 3rd stage Tour de Suisse 2021

1. Mathieu van der Poel (nld)
2. Christophe Laporte (fra) s.t.
3. Julian Alaphilippe (fra) s.t.
4. Michael Matthews (aus) s.t.
5. Maximilian Schachmann (ger) s.t.
6. Alexander Kamp (den) s.t.
7. Tiesj Benoot (bel) s.t.
8. Omar Fraile (spa) s.t.
9. Anthony Turgis (fra) s.t.
10. Michael Woods (can) s.t.

GC after stage 3
1. Mathieu van der Poel (nld)
2. Julian Alaphilippe (fra) + 0.01
3. Stefan Küng (swi) + 0.04
4. Maximilian Schachmann (ger) + 0.06
5. Mattia Cattaneo (ita) + 0.13
6. Iván García (spa) + 0.16
7. Richard Carapaz (ecu) + 0.17
8. Neilson Powless (usa) + 0.29
9. Andreas Kron (den) + 0.37
10. Rigoberto Uran (col) + 0.39

11. Jakob Fuglsang (den) s.t.
16. Wout Poels (nld) + 0.56
18. Tiesj Benoot (bel)+ 0.59
20. Michael Woods (can) + 1.04
22. Sam Oomen (nld) s.t.
24. Marc Soler (spa) + 1.10
31. Esteban Chaves (col) + 1.40

Race report
Rémy Rochas, Benjamin King and Claudio Imhof attack from the gun, while Mathias Frank tracks them down. The four put 7 minutes into the peloton, but – obviously – they are caught in time.

Van der Poel, Alaphilippe, Carapaz, Woods, Chaves, Dunbar and Fraile strike on a climb with 25 kilometre to go. They are brought back before Alahilippe strikes again in the descent. Dennis tracks him down.

Another attack – with the likes of Soler, Woods and Powless – is neutralised also before García gives it a go. The Spaniard opens up a gap of 15 seconds.

Meurisse leads the chase for Van der Poel and the catch is made inside the last kilometre. While Vansevenent leads out Alaphilippe, Van der Poel powers away with 250 metres to go. Laporte and the World Champion struggle to reach his wheel, but in vain. Van der Poel not only takes his second stage win in a row, he also moves into the overall race lead.

Another interesting read: route 3rd stage 2021 Tour de Suisse.